Frequency and factors associated with dysphagia in stroke

Prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of dysphagia after stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Dysphagia is a common complication after stroke, which not only brings adverse outcomes but also greatly affects the quality of life of patients. At present, there is no systematic review or meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of post-stroke dysphagia (PSD). A systematic review of the prevalence, risk factors, and prognosis of PSD is essential.

Methods

Through 31 December 2022, a comprehensive literature search was performed for observational studies related to PSD. Five databases were retrieved. Random-effects models were used to estimate the pooled prevalence, odds ratio (OR), and 95% CIs.

Results

A total of 34 studies were included, and the results showed that the overall prevalence of PSD was 46.6% (95% CI, 0.405-0.528). The prevalence of dysphagia in ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke was 43.6% (95% CI 0.370-0.501) and 58.8% (95% CI 0.519-0.654), respectively. The prevalence of PSD in Africa was 49.4% (95% CI, 0.196-0.792), in Asia was 40.1% (95% CI, 0.348-0.454), in Europe was 45.8% (95% CI, 0.327-0.590), in North America was 44.3% (95% CI, 0.370-0.517), in South America was 57.5% (95% CI, 0.441-0.708), and in Oceania was 64.1% (95%CI, 0.558, 0.724). In risk factor analysis, hypertension, previous stroke, and atrial fibrillation were significantly associated with the occurrence of PSD, pooled OR = 1.179 [(95% CI, 1.002-1.386), p < 0.05], pooled OR = 1.514 [(95% CI, 1.204-1.905), p < 0.001], and pooled OR = 1.980 [(95% CI, 1.580-2.481), p < 0.001]. In outcome studies, the prevalence of aphasia and dysarthria in PSD was 35.6% (95% CI, 0.213-0.499) and 54.5% (95% CI, 0.293-0.798), respectively. The prevalence of respiratory tract infection was 27.1% (95%CI, -0.038-0.579), and the prevalence of pneumonitis was 32.1% (95% CI, 0.224-0.418). Persistence of dysphagia at discharge and at 1 month was 74.5% (95% CI, 0.621-0.869) and 50.9% (95% CI, 0.142-0.876), respectively. Mortality rates for PSD patients during admission and discharge at 1 month, 3 months, and 1 year were 11.8% (95% CI, 0.083-0.152), 26.5% (95% CI, 0.170-0.359), 25.7% (95% CI, 0.19-0.324), and 31.3% (95% CI, 0.256-0.369), respectively.

Conclusion

This study found that the overall prevalence of PSD was 46.6%. Prevalence is most influenced by the diagnosis method. Hypertension, history of stroke, atrial fibrillation, patient age, and stroke severity were risk factors significantly associated with PSD. The prevalence of aphasia, dysarthria, respiratory tract infection, and pneumonitis in PSD patients is 2-4 times that of patients without PSD.Systematic review registration: www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO, PROSPERO, CRD42021252967.

Comparison of efficacy of non-pharmacological intervention for post-stroke dysphagia: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis

Increasingly, non-pharmacological interventions are being identified and applied to post-stroke dysphagia. Nevertheless, there is insufficient evidence to assess which type of interventions are more effective. In this study, the randomized controlled trials of non-pharmacological interventions on post-stroke dysphagia were retrieved from the relevant databases. Including 96 studies and 12 non-drug treatments. Then, and the network meta-analysis is carried out by statistical software. The results show: In the aspects of videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), Standardized Swallowing Assessment (SSA), swallowing-quality of life (SWAL-QOL), Water swallow test (WST); Acupuncture + electrotherapy + rehabilitation training, acupuncture + rehabilitation training + massage, electrotherapy + rehabilitation training, acupuncture + electrotherapy + rehabilitation training, electrotherapy, acupuncture + rehabilitation training + acupoints sticking application have significant effects in post-stroke dysphagia. Compared with other interventions, they have more advantages in improving the above indicators. A substantial number of high-quality randomized clinical trials are still necessary in the prospective to validate the therapeutic effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in post-stroke dysphagia and the results of this Bayesian network meta-analysis.

Dysphagia and daily oral fluids among cerebrovascular stroke patients: an theory-based nursing intervention protocol

Objective

To evaluate the improvement of dysphagia and the daily amounts of oral fluids served among people who had recently experienced a cerebrovascular stroke (CVS) after applying a nursing intervention protocol.

Methods

A quasi-experimental design was used to examine 60 stroke patients who were randomly and alternatively divided equally into a study group and a control group. Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS) and fluid balance chart were used. Within the first 24 h of a patient’s admission, expert nurses were trained in nursing intervention protocol to manage dysphagia and daily oral fluids.

Results

Post-nursing intervention, the severity of dysphagia decreased among the study group more than in the control group. Additionally, the study group began taking greater amounts of fluids by the oral route than before the nursing intervention.

Conclusions

A standardized nursing intervention protocol is needed to decrease the severity of dysphagia after CVS and increase the amount of daily oral fluids. The presence of a structured theory-based nursing intervention protocol for dysphagia management will greatly contribute to decreasing the consequences of dysphagia after CVS, and can also be expected to attenuate the effects of aspiration pneumonia, dehydration, and malnutrition; further, it also increases adherence to the protocol by both nurses and patients.

Programa de Enfermagem de Reabilitação na pessoa com Deglutição Comprometida em contexto de AVC: Estudo Exploratório

Introdução: O Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC) é a principal causa de morte em Portugal e um dos principais responsáveis pela presença de compromisso na deglutição. A avaliação e despiste da deglutição comprometida são reconhecidos como indicadores de qualidade dos cuidados de saúde. A Enfermagem de Reabilitação assume grande importância na deteção precoce do compromisso na deglutição bem como na definição de um programa de reabilitação que vise a reaquisição de capacidades e a prevenção de complicações. Este estudo pretende analisar os efeitos de um programa desenvolvido por enfermeiros de reabilitação na reeducação funcional da pessoa com deglutição comprometida em contexto de AVC. Método: Estudo quantitativo, exploratório, descritivo e retrospetivo. Resultados: Foram avaliados 218 indivíduos. A população avaliada é predominantemente do sexo masculino, a média de idade foi de 73 anos e o evento vascular predominante foi o AVC isquémico. À admissão 50,5% dos participantes apresentavam compromisso na deglutição. Destes, 13,5% desenvolveram infeção respiratória. Inicialmente foram incluídos no estudo 110 pessoas. 6 destas faleceram, pelo que os dados finais referem-se a 104 pessoas. Estabeleceram-se relações estatisticamente significativas entre o compromisso na deglutição e pontuações mais elevadas na NIHSS. Conclusão: A maioria das pessoas apresentou melhoria na capacidade de deglutição após a intervenção do enfermeiro de reabilitação através de um programa de reabilitação estruturado. O compromisso na deglutição relaciona-se com pontuações mais elevadas na National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), não se tendo estabelecido relação com outras variáveis como a tipologia e localização do AVC.

Bibliometric analysis of global research trends on post-stroke pneumonia: Current development status and research Frontiers

Background

As one of the most common complications of stroke, post-stroke pneumonia significantly increases the incidence of adverse outcomes, mortality, and healthcare costs for patients with stroke. As the field of post-stroke pneumonia has gained interest in the recent years, there has been an increasing number of publications on post-stroke pneumonia research worldwide. Therefore, a more comprehensive understanding of the field is needed now. This paper is intended to analyze the research status and detect the research frontiers in this field.

Methods

VOS viewer, CiteSpace, and the online scientometric platform (https://bibliometric.com/) were the main visualization tools used in this paper. They were used to perform citation analysis of countries/institutions, co-citation analysis of authors/journals/references, co-authorship analysis of authors, co-occurrence analysis of keywords, and citation bursts analysis of references.

Results

The number of publications in this field has increased rapidly since 2010 and is expected to continue to increase in the next few years. The countries contributing most to post-stroke pneumonia research were the USA, China, and Germany. The most productive institution was Harvard University, followed by Humboldt University of Berlin, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Free University of Berlin from Germany. Meanwhile, the German authors Meisel A, Meisel C, and Dirnagl U, who have contributed significantly to this field, were all associated with these three German institutions. The high-quality and high output journal was STROKE. In the coming years, the hot topic keywords “risk & risk-factors,” “outcome & impact,” “management & guidelines,” and “predictors” will gain more attention in this field. Finally, hot keywords were grouped into four clusters in this paper: cluster 1 (risk-factors studies of post-stroke pneumonia), cluster 2 (clinically relevant studies of post-stroke pneumonia), cluster 3 (mechanism studies of post-stroke pneumonia), and cluster 4 (care studies of post-stroke pneumonia).

Conclusion

This study shows the knowledge structure and evolution of the field of post-stroke pneumonia research and predicts research trends through visualization analysis. The future trend of post-stroke pneumonia research will gradually shift from clinical and mechanistic studies to treatment and prevention studies.

Tube feeding predictors after ischemic hemispheric stroke during hospitalization

PURPOSE

To verify the factors associated with the need of tube feeding (TF) during patients post-ischemic stroke hospitalization.

METHOD

This is a retrospective study with 70 adult post-ischemic hemispheric stroke adult patients hospitalized in the Neurology department at a tertiary public hospital in Santa Catarina, Brazil. We investigated associations between the need of a feeding tube during hospitalization and the variables age, gender, admission and discharge NIHSS and FOIS, length of hospital stay in days, presence of thrombolytic therapy, extensive stroke, hemisphere affected, prior stroke, pneumonia during hospitalization, presence of signs of laryngeal penetration and laryngotracheal aspiration and dysphagia in the first and last swallowing clinical evaluation.

RESULTS

A total of 33 participants used tube feeding. There was a significant relationship among tube feeding and the following parameters: NIHSS (p value .001), FOIS (p value .001), extensive stroke (p value .034), left hemisphere involvement (p value .035), pneumonia during hospitalization (p value .001), length of hospital stay in days (p value .001), signs of laryngotracheal penetration/aspiration (p value .001) and dysphagia in speech-language assessment (p value .001).

CONCLUSION

Tube feeding during patients hospitalization after ischemic hemispheric stroke was predicted by the severity of stroke and signs of airway permeation.Key pointsSwallowing difficulty is one of the most common post-stroke consequences.There are few studies on the characterization of post-stroke patients with tube feeding.Tube feeding after ischemic stroke predictors were severity of stroke and signs of airway permeation.

Electroacupuncture Involved in Motor Cortex and Hypoglossal Neural Control to Improve Voluntary Swallowing of Poststroke Dysphagia Mice

The descending motor nerve conduction of voluntary swallowing is mainly launched by primary motor cortex (M1). M1 can activate and regulate peripheral nerves (hypoglossal) to control the swallowing. Acupuncture at “Lianquan” acupoint (CV23) has a positive effect against poststroke dysphagia (PSD). In previous work, we have demonstrated that electroacupuncture (EA) could regulate swallowing-related motor neurons and promote swallowing activity in the essential part of central pattern generator (CPG), containing nucleus ambiguus (NA), nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), and ventrolateral medulla (VLM) under the physiological condition. In the present work, we have investigated the effects of EA on the PSD mice in vivo and sought evidence for PSD improvement by electrophysiology recording and laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI). Four main conclusions can be drawn from our study: (i) EA may enhance the local field potential in noninfarction area of M1, activate the swallowing-related neurons (pyramidal cells), and increase the motor conduction of noninfarction area in voluntary swallowing; (ii) EA may improve the blood flow in both M1 on the healthy side and deglutition muscles and relieve PSD symptoms; (iii) EA could increase the motor conduction velocity (MCV) in hypoglossal nerve, enhance the EMG of mylohyoid muscle, alleviate the paralysis of swallowing muscles, release the substance P, and restore the ability to drink water; and (iv) EA can boost the functional compensation of M1 in the noninfarction side, strengthen the excitatory of hypoglossal nerve, and be involved in the voluntary swallowing neural control to improve PSD. This research provides a timely and necessary experimental evidence of the motor neural regulation in dysphagia after stroke by acupuncture in clinic.

Effectiveness of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Post-Stroke Dysphagia: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

The purpose of this review was to summarize the latest best scientific evidence on the efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on swallowing function in dysphagic stroke patients. A comprehensive systematic search of literature published between November 2014 and May 2020 was performed using the following electronic databases: PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, PEDro, Science Direct, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and Scopus. Only randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluating the effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on swallowing function in dysphagic stroke patients were included. Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) has been used to evaluate the risk of bias of included trials. This review was reported in accordance with PRISMA statement guideline. The methodological quality of the studies was determined using PEDro scale and GRADE approach. Evidence of overall quality was graded from moderate to high. Eleven RCTs involving 784 patients were analyzed. The primary outcome measures of this review were functional dysphagia scale (FDS) and standard swallowing assessment. This review found neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) coupled with traditional swallowing therapy could be an optional intervention to improve swallowing function after stroke in rehabilitation department.

Post-stroke patients with and without thrombolysis: analysis of deglutition in the acute phase of the disease

PURPOSE

To verify the frequency and severity of dysphagia after ischemic stroke with or without thrombolysis in the acute phase; and the association among dysphagia, demographic characteristics, neurological and functional impairments and thrombolysis.

METHODS

A retrospective study of the medical records of 94 patients who suffered from ischemic stroke during the acute phase of the disease. From these, 52 patients received thrombolytic therapy and 42 patients did not receive such therapy. We collected data on age, sex, comorbidities, therapeutic time window of thrombolytic therapy, level of consciousness, degree of neurological impairment, level of functional dependency and clinical swallowing examination. A descriptive analysis included categorical and continuous variables, and an analysis of the association using the Pearson's Chi-Square Test, in which the value of p ≤ 0.05 was considered as a statistically significant association.

RESULTS

The frequency of dysphagia in the thrombolytic patients was 67.3%, the odds ratio was 4.6 higher than the non-thrombolysed patients. The severity of dysphagia was not associated with thrombolysis. There was an association between the presence of dysphagia and functional dependence. Demographic characteristics and neurological impairment were not associated with dysphagia.

CONCLUSION

Thrombolytic patients were more likely to develop dysphagia than non-thrombolysed patients in the acute phase of stroke, with dysphagia associated to functional dependence.

Swallowing progression during the acute phase of cortical and subcortical ischemic stroke and its association with the extension of brain damage and cognitive impairment

Objective: To assess swallowing progression and its association with the extension of brain damage and cognitive impairment during the acute phase of ischemic stroke. Methods: Cross-sectional, observational study with 50 patients, who were admitted to a Stroke Unit with cerebral ischemia, with a maximum stroke time of 24 h. The following clinical tools were used: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, Frontal Battery Assessment, and the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score for neuroimaging. The Gugging Swallowing Screen and the Functional Oral Intake Scale were used to assess swallowing. The patients were assessed at three different time-points: at hospital admission, after 72 h of hospitalization, and at hospital discharge. Results: The mean age of patients was 65.5 years. The frequency of dysphagic patients was 50.0%, 18.0%, and 12.0% at admission, after 72 h of hospitalization, and at discharge, respectively. Scores on the Frontal Battery Assessment and the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score were associated with dysphagia progression. Conclusion: Dysphagia is a common complication in the acute phase of stroke, and is associated with the extension of brain damage and cognitive impairment.

Dysphagia and Associated Pneumonia in Stroke Patients from Brazil: A Systematic Review

Dysphagia and its associated complications are expected to be relatively more frequent in stroke patients in Brazil than in similar patients treated in developed countries due to the suboptimal stroke care in many Brazilians medical services. However, there is no estimate of dysphagia and pneumonia incidence for the overall stroke population in Brazil. We conducted a systematic review of the recent literature to address this knowledge gap, first screening citations for relevance and then rating full articles of accepted citations. At both levels, judgements were made by two independent raters according to a priori criteria. Fourteen accepted articles underwent critical appraisal and data extraction. The frequency of dysphagia in stroke patients was high (59% to 76%). Few studies assessed pneumonia and only one study stratified patients by both dysphagia and pneumonia, with an increased Relative Risk for pneumonia in patients with stroke and dysphagia of 8.4 (95% CI 2.1, 34.4). Across all articles, we identified bias related to: heterogeneity in number and type of stroke; no rater blinding; and, assessments that were not reproducible, reliable or validated. Despite the high frequency of dysphagia and associated pneumonia in stroke patients in Brazil, the quality of the available literature is low and that there is little research focused on these epidemiologic data. Future rigorously designed studies are in dire need to accurately determine dysphagia incidence and its impact on stroke patients in Brazil. These data will be critical to properly allocate limited national resources that maximize the quality of stroke care.