Neurological conditions and acute dysphagia

Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is a significant problem for neurological and non-neurological patient populations in acute care, occurring in up to 71% of patients with neurological disease. It is associated with weight loss, dehydration, urinary tract infections, choking, aspiration and pneumonia (Karagiannis et al, 2011).

OD is common in all critical illness, but especially neurological illness, and is experienced by up to 91% of patients in neurological intensive care units (Ponfick et al, 2015). Post-extubation dysphagia is increased in patients with neurological problems, with Macht et al (2014) finding it in 93% of patients.

OD occurs in 42-67% of patients with acute stroke (Perry and Love, 2001) and correlates with lesion site. Patients with stroke and OD are significantly more likely to get pneumonia, more likely to be treated with antibiotics, have higher mortality rates and are less likely to get discharged home.