Characteristics of patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia in a geriatric outpatient clinic

Objective: To describe the characteristics of patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) presenting to a geriatric outpatient clinic. Methods: Patients with positive dysphagia screening who presented to the geriatric outpatient clinic of a university hospital through August 2020 to August 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. OD was screened with the Eating Assessment Tool-10. Functionality was assessed with Katz Activities of Daily Living and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scales. Nutritional status was evaluated using the Mini-Nutritional Assessment-Short Form and frailty was assessed with the FRAIL scale. Clinical dysphagia evaluation was recorded from patient files. Results: A total of 87 patients were included. The mean age was 81 ± 7 and 54 (62%) were female. Out of 87 patients, 84 (97%) were frail and 36 (44%) were functionally dependent. Eighty-nine percent of the patients had malnutrition or malnutrition risk. Functionality was the only independent factor associated with frailty in multivariate analysis (OR=1.2, 95% CI 0.78-1.7, p<0.001 for semi-dependency and OR=1.3, 95% CI 0.79-1.7, p<0.001 for dependency, respectively). Conclusion: Frailty, functional dependency and malnutrition are highly prevalent in older adults with dysphagia.