Quality of life in patients with neurogenic dysphagia

Abstract

Introduction: Dysphagia or swallowing disorder is a common symptom of different neurological diseases. The assessment traditionally focuses on describing the mechanism of alteration and the degree of severity, but rarely does it explore the impact it has on the quality of life of the person. Method: Twenty-seven people with neurogenic dysphagia (60.04 ± 14.14 years, 10 men) were assessment with the self-administered quality of life questionnaire (SWAL-QOL-Ch), which was adapted in Chile. It was compared with a control group of 113 participants (51.42 ± 7.62 years, 46 men) and the influence of sex and etiology was determined. Results: Patients with neurogenic dysphagia presented significant differences in all SWAL-QOL-Ch scales in relation to the control group. In the variable sex, difference is observed only in “duration of feeding”, no differences were observed by etiology. Conclusions: Patients with neurogenic dysphagia have altered their quality of life, especially in relation to the time they take to eat.