SUMMARY
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to describe the profile of
patients with
oropharyngeal dysphagia in a
teaching hospital in the
public health system in northern
Brazil.
METHODS:
This is a descriptive
cross-sectional study. All
procedures of this study were approved by the
ethics committee. A convenience sample composed of participants
aged >18 years, of both sexes, with any underlying
pathology admitted to the medical clinic on exclusive oral
feeding, alternatively enteral or gastric
tube feeding (
Gastrostomy), or associated by both routes, whose
swallowing assessment was performed by a
Speech-
Language Pathologist. Data from the database/
medical records were investigated from March 2020 to September 2021.
RESULTS:
The sample consisted of 44
patients diagnosed with
oropharyngeal dysphagia, with a higher frequency of
males (63.64%)
aged over 60 years (70.45%). Almost half of the evaluated
patients were diagnosed with
neurological disorders (47.73%) and had
dysphagia associated with other underlying
diseases (31.82%). Excluding
patients with
neurological disorders,
trauma/
polytrauma, and respiratory disorders from the last group, some
patients (11.36%) had two concomitant underlying
diseases.
CONCLUSION:
According to the sample of this study, the profile of
oropharyngeal dysphagia patients includes
pneumonia,
respiratory failure, bronchoaspiration, and the consequent need for ventilatory support.