Oropharyngeal dysphagia is common after neurological injury and substantially compromises health-related quality of life (HRQoL), yet no fully validated questionnaire is available for Portuguese-speaking adults with neurogenic dysphagia. In this cross-sectional case-control study, 255 adults were included: 85 with neurological injury and oropharyngeal dysphagia (case group), 70 with neurological injury without dysphagia, and 100 without neurological disease or swallowing complaints. All participants completed the European Portuguese SWAL-QoL; the neurological groups were additionally assessed with the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) and a standardized clinical swallowing evaluation. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, exploratory factor analysis at item and domain level, convergent/divergent validity with FOIS, and clinical validity across groups and food and liquid consistencies were examined. The Portuguese SWAL-QoL showed excellent internal consistency (total Cronbach’s α = 0.96; domains 0.72–0.97) and good to excellent test-retest reliability (r = .75–0.96). Inter-domain correlations ranged from 0.72 to 0.96. Item-level exploratory factor analysis explained 85.6
Socioeconomic status (SES) is a well-established determinant of various health outcomes; however, its association with dysphagia remains poorly understood. We examined the association of household income and educational attainment with the prevalence of dysphagia among community-dwelling Japanese adults. This cross-sectional study included a total of 9,912 adults (4,225 men aged 21–95 years and 5,687 women aged 20–91 years). Dysphagia was assessed using the 10-item Eating Assessment Tool. SES was evaluated by self-reported household income and educational attainment. Logistic regression analysis was performed, stratified by age (younger: <65 years; older: ≥65 years) and sex. Models were adjusted for age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical activity, living alone, number of medications, toothbrushing frequency, self-reported bilateral posterior occlusal support, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and body mass index. In both sexes, household income was significantly associated with lower odds of dysphagia among participants aged ≥ 65 years, but not among those aged < 65 years. Conversely, an inverse association between educational attainment and the prevalence of dysphagia was consistently observed in men regardless of age, whereas this association was only observed among women aged < 65 years. Higher household income was inversely associated with dysphagia among men and women aged ≥ 65 years. Higher educational attainment was inversely associated with dysphagia among men regardless of age and women aged < 65 years.
Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is an inherited degenerative muscle disease that features dysphagia among its earliest and most problematic symptoms. There is limited information on the optimal type and timing of dysphagia treatment in OPMD. We aimed to consolidate information regarding outcomes of treatment by botulinum toxin injection (BT), esophageal dilatation (ED), and cricopharyngeal myotomy (CPM) in a systematic review (PROSPERO Registration CRD42025575703). Electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, CENTRAL, Scopus, Web of Science) were systematically searched for studies describing outcomes of BT, ED, or CPM treatment in adults with OPMD, published from database inception to November 5, 2025. Eligibility criteria were met by 40 out of 2920 original titles identified by the search, with 28 (BT), 31 (ED), and 405 (CPM) patients having treatment outcomes described. Treatment success rates were approximately 59
Quality of life (QoL) and functional health status (FHS) are two main parameters in assessing oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD), and are affected by symptom severity and their effect on everyday routines and wellbeing. These different factors are often reported by the patient with a contributing point of view of the caregiver as well. Limited research exists regarding the perceptual concordance of dysphagia related burden as reflected in QoL (D-QoL) and D-FHS between patients and caregivers, and factors affecting it. The study aim was to evaluate the existence and extent of perceptual discrepancy of D-QoL/FHS between patients and their primary caregiver, and examine whether dysphagia severity or cognitive state affects concordance. This cross-sectional study enrolled 60 patient-caregiver dyads. Patients underwent Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) to confirm OD and rate its severity. D-FHS and D-QoL were assessed separately by dyad members using the Eating Assessment Tool 10 (EAT-10) and Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI), respectively. Cognitive status was measured via the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Discrepancies were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. EAT-10 and DHI scores were lower when scored by patients compared to caregivers, however statistical significance was reached only for the EAT-10 (median and interquartile range for EAT-10 18.5 [10-27] vs. 23 [15.75–28], p=0.0134; for DHI 47 [24–64.5] vs. 50 [33.5–65.25], p= 0.1491). While cognitive impairment did not influence discrepancies, dysphagia severity had a significant effect on dyad concordance: In dyads with mild dysphagia, caregivers scored significantly higher on EAT-10 (p = 0.0337) and DHI total (p = 0.0044), functional (p = 0.0055), and emotional (p = 0.0083) domains compared to patients, whereas in dyads with severe dysphagia, no significant discrepancies were observed. Discrepancy exists between patients and caregivers in the perception of dysphagia burden. These discrepancies are more pronounced when the dysphagia is mild, and are not affected by the patient’s cognitive state.
To investigate sarcopenic dysphagia characteristics and the relationship between suprahyoid muscle activity and swallowing dynamics using concurrent surface electromyography (sEMG) and videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS). 56 elderly (≥ 65 years) with possible sarcopenia were prospectively enrolled and classified into aspiration (Penetration Aspiration Scale [PAS] ≥ 6, n = 27) and non-aspiration (PAS < 6, n = 29) groups. Swallowing dynamics (Videofluoroscopic Dysphagia Scale [VDS]) and suprahyoid sEMG activity were evaluated concurrently during 2 ml water swallows. Mean and maximum sEMG amplitudes showed no significant differences between 2 groups. However, total (p = 0.035) and peak-to-end (p = 0.008) durations were significantly longer in the aspiration group. Adjusted multivariable linear regression analysis revealed that prolonged peak-to-end duration was significantly associated with higher total VDS (B = 0.007, p = 0.015), pharyngeal VDS (B = 0.009, p = 0.019), and VDS aspiration sub-item scores (B = 0.030, p = 0.005). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that a peak-to-end duration cutoff of 1.64 s predicted aspiration with a specificity of 93.1
