Prevalence of swallowing dysfunction screened in Swedish cohort of COPD patients

Figures & data

Table 1 Patient characteristics

Variable	Mean	SD	Range
Age, years	71	7.7	52–84
BMI, kg/m^2	24	5.9	15–40
FEV1, L	1.02	0.6	0.37–3.49
FEV1 %	42.51	13.7	22.38–52.56
Swallowing capacity, mL/sec	15.36	11.9	3.16–52.56

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 second.

Table 2 Result from the questionnaire

Questionnaire	N	%	95% CI
1. Coughing during meals	18	35.7	22.4–49.9
2. Choking	19	37.3	24.1–51.9
3. Dyspnea during meals	11	21.6	11.2–35.3
4. Xerostomia	36	70.6	56.2–82.5
5. Long meal duration	25	49.0	34.7–63.4
6. Eats everything on the plate	33	64.7	50.1–77.6
7. Bolus retention; mouth and/or pharynx	18	35.3	22.4–49.9
8. Small servings	23	45.1	40.3–68.9
9. Diminished appetite	23	45.1	40.3–68.9

Note: Number of patients with subjective symptoms described in percent with a 95% CI.

Abbreviation: CI, confidence interval.

Figure 1 Histogram showing over swallowing capacity where the lower normal reference value for 150 mL of water is 10 mL/sec (≤15 seconds).

Note: The y-axis indicates the number of patients.

Table 3 Results from the questionnaire and swallowing tests expressed in number of symptoms according to lung function

Lung function (GOLD)	Number (%)	0 (%)	1	2	3	4	5
Stage 2	13 (26)	6	3	2	1	1	0
Stage 3	17 (33)	5	7	2	2	1	0
Stage 4	21 (41)	0	4	8	5	2	2
Total	51	11 (22)	14 (28)	12 (24)	8 (16)	4 (8)	2 (4)

Abbreviation: GOLD, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease.

Figure 2 Scatterplot where the y-axis shows lung function expressed in FEV₁%, and the x-axis shows number of dysphagia symptom(s): subjective and objective symptoms.

Abbreviation: FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 second.

Table 4 Number of participants according to GOLD stage based on lung function (FEV₁%) and gender ratio

GOLD	FEV1% of predicted	N (%)	Male/female
Stage 2	≥50% to ≤−80%	13 (26)	7/6
Stage 3	≥30% to <50%	17 (33)	6/11
Stage 4	<30%	21 (41)	8/13
Total		51 (100)	21/30

Abbreviations: GOLD, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 second.