Association between sarcopenia and dysphagia among elderly

Abstract

Background: Human aging involves a series of changes in different body systems, that result in progressive loss of function. Sarcopenia and dysphagia are common in elderly with several health outcomes related to them. Objective: To study the association between sarcopenia and swallowing disorders among elderly. Methods: A cross sectional study included 70 participants aged 60 or above, who were attended to Ain Shams University Hospitals from April to October 2023, collected by simple random sampling. Exclusion criteria were patients with impaired consciousness, stroke, parkinsonism, late dementia, or musculoskeletal, neurological, rheumatological disorders or hand deformity that prevented them to do the test. Sarcopenia was evaluated by skeletal muscle index and hand grip strength & defined as presence of both decreased muscle mass and impaired muscle function (strength or performance), swallowing ability was evaluated by Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) and Yale swallow protocol. Nutritional, functional status and comorbidities were assessed. Sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of EAT-10 & its association with sarcopenia were evaluated. Results: Out of 70 participants 53 were found to be sarcopenic, 66% of sarcopenic participants were found to have dysphagia by EAT-10, and 30.2% had dysphagia by Yale swallow, EAT-10 was found to have 94.12% sensitivity, 83.02% specificity at cutoff point >5 with area under curve= 0.89 to detect dysphagia by Yale swallow protocol. Low skeletal muscle index was the strongest potential indicator of dysphagia by multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Current study provides evidence for association between sarcopenia and dysphagia among elderly.