Dysphagia and its relation with nutritional status and calorie/protein intake in the elderly

Abstract

ABSTRACT Purpose: to evaluate the nutritional status associated with dysphagia, and compare the calorie and protein intake of dysphagic elderly patients to that of non dysphagic ones, during hospitalization. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study with elderly people ranging from 60 to 80 years old admitted as inpatients in a medical and neurological clinic of a public hospital. They formed two groups, according to the presence of dysphagia: dysphagic and non dysphagic ones. The inclusion criteria were: dysphagia secondary to stroke and exclusive oral feeding. Anthropometric measurements and the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) were applied. The 24-hour recall was used to analyze food consumption. The statistical analysis used the Fisher's exact test for the association of variables, and the Mann-Whitney test, for their comparison. Results: a total of 12 elderly people participated, whose mean age was 70.50 ± 7.77 years in the dysphagia group (n = 6), and 72.67 ± 5.01 years in the non dysphagia group (n = 6).There was an association between the presence of dysphagia and the risk of malnutrition, according to MNA (p = 0.028). No significant difference in calorie and protein intake was seen between the groups. The group with dysphagia had a lower water intake as compared to the non dysphagia group (p = 0.045). Conclusion: dysphagia was associated with the risk of malnutrition and lower fluid intake in dysphagic patients, thus, increasing their risk of dehydration.