Prevalence of self-reported swallowing difficulties and associated factors among older Colombians / Prevalência de dificuldades de deglutição autorreferidas e fatores associados entre idosos colombianos

ABSTRACT

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence of self-reported swallowing difficulty (dysphagia) among older Colombians and to explore the factors associated with this condition. Methods: This study presents a secondary analysis of the SABE-Colombia survey, a crosssectional study of community-dwelling older adults. The dependent variable was self reported swallowing difficulty, assessed through the question "How often do you have difficulty or discomfort swallowing?" Descriptive and bivariate analyses of the sample were performed, followed by multivariate analysis, adjusting for confounding variables. Results: The final sample included 19 004 older Colombians, whose mean age was 69 years (56% women). The overall prevalence of swallowing difficulty was 12.2%. In the multivariate analysis, significant associations were observed between swallowing difficulty and several factors, including male sex (OR 1.14, 95%CI 1.03 ­ 1.26), age > 80 years (OR 1.26, 95%CI 1.08 ­ 1.47), dependence in activities of daily living (OR 1.62, 95%CI 1.23 ­ 2.13), cognitive impairment (OR 1.49, 95%CI 1.30 ­ 1.70), depressive symptoms (OR 1.38, 95%CI 1.15 ­ 1.65), sarcopenia (OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.02 ­ 1.69), malnutrition (OR 1.35, 95%CI 1.23 ­ 1.49), and osteoarticular disease (OR 1.18, 95%CI 1.07 ­ 1.38). Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of swallowing difficulty among older community-dwelling Colombians. Our results showed a strong correlation between swallowing difficulty and risk factors such as cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms, osteoarticular disease, and dependence in activities of daily living, but not with malnutrition or sarcopenia. (AU)