Association Between Impaired Swallowing and Cognition in Healthy Older Adults
Year: 2017
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Impaired swallowing, termed dysphagia, is a common morbidity of neurologic and non-neurologic diseases, but can also affect up to 63% of older adults without known disease. Among patients with neurologic disease like stroke or dementia, dysphagia co-occurs with impaired cognition; but, in community-dwelling elderly without disease, the relationship between dysphagia and cognition is unknown. This cross-sectional study examined associations between dysphagia and cognition in community-dwelling elderly. Participants were community-dwelling older adults enrolled in the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP), a longitudinal study of aging and dementia. MAP participants complete a comprehensive cognitive assessment battery; scores from 19 tests are consolidated into a composite Z-score. For this study, 88 MAP participants (mean age=83.62 ± 6.86 years) without any disease known to result in dysphagia, underwent dysphagia screening using the Modified-Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MMASA), a validated and objectively scored dysphagia screening tool. Scores ≤93 indicate dysphagia. Univariate and multivariate analyses (adjusted for age, sex, education) explored associations between swallowing, dysphagia, and cognition. Mean MMASA score=95.43 (SD=3.76); mean cognitive Z-score=0.31 (SD=0.53). Swallowing was positively correlated with cognition (r=0.40, p<.0001). Adjusted for demographics, lower swallowing scores remained associated with lower cognitive scores (R2=0.30, ΔR2=0.16, B=0.042, SE=0.014, p<.0001). Dichotomizing MMASA scores into “dysphagia/no dysphagia” revealed that participants with dysphagia [n=21 (24%)] had lower cognitive scores [F(1,83)=5.59, p=.020]. Dysphagia was associated with lower cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults without disease known to result in dysphagia. Age-related dysphagia and impaired cognition may follow similar pathophysiologic processes or share common neurologic substrates.
Source: Innovation in Aging
Institutions: Rush University Medical Center, Rush University
Language: English
Subfield: Speech and Hearing
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,977
OpenAlex ID: W2734185833