title: Prevalence of patient-reported dysphagia in multiple sclerosis patients: an Italian multicenter study (using the DYMUS questionnaire).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) with a chronic course. Dysphagia represents one of the current challenges in clinical practice for the management of MS patients. Dysphagia starts to appear in mildly impaired MS subjects (EDSS 2-3) and becomes increasingly common in the most severely disabled subjects (EDSS 8-9). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency and characteristics of patient-reported dysphagia in MS patients with a multicenter study using the recently developed DYMUS (DYsphagia in MUltiple Sclerosis) questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected in a multi-centre, cross-sectional study using a face-to-face structured questionnaire for clinical characteristics and the DYMUS questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1875 patients were interviewed. The current study has shown a correlation between patient-reported dysphagia and EDSS and disease course but not with age, gender and disease duration. Questionnaires were divided into "patient-reported dysphagia-yes" (587, 31.3%) and "patient-reported dysphagia-no" (1288, 68.7%). Compared with the patient-reported dysphagia-no group, patients in patient-reported dysphagia-yes group had higher EDSS score (mean EDSS 4.6 vs. 2.8; p<0.001) and had a longer disease duration (mean duration 13 years vs. 11 years; p<0.001), while there was no significant difference in gender (32.7% vs. 30.5% male and 67.3% vs. 69.5% female) and in age composition (46.18 vs. 42.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study represents the largest, multi-centre sample of MS patients evaluated for patient-reported dysphagia utilizing an ad-hoc questionnaire for this condition.
authors.affiliation: Dip. di Neurologia, PA Micone Hospital, ASL3 Genovese Genova, Italy. csolaro@libero.it
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Solaro
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rezzani
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trabucco
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Amato
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zipoli
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Portaccio
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giannini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Patti
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Amico
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frau
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lorefice
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonavita
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Della Corte
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Finamore
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghezzi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Annovazzi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rottoli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gasperini
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Restivo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maimone
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Stromillo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bergamaschi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Central Nervous System; DYMUS; Dysphagia; Extended Disability Status Scale; Multiple sclerosis; Swallowing problem