Neuroanatomical, Clinical and Cognitive Correlates of Post-Stroke Dysphagia.
OBJECTIVE
About half of the dysphagic stroke patients have persistent swallowing dysfunction after 7 days from symptom onset. The aim of the study was to evaluate incidence, prognosis, clinical and neuroradiological correlates of post-stroke dysphagia.


METHODS
We prospectively examined consecutive patients with acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Patients' clinical and neuroradiological data were collected. Swallowing function was assessed by the water swallow test upon admission and after 14 days; patients were then classified as persistent dysphagic, non-persistent dysphagic or non-dysphagic.


RESULTS
We recruited 275 patients, 121 of whom were dysphagic upon admission and 254 patients attended follow-up at 14 days; 141 never presented dysphagia, 21 had a non-persistent pattern of dysphagia and 92 had a persistent one. Stroke type, leukoaraiosis degree, previous cognitive impairment and stroke severity upon admission independently predicted the occurrence of dysphagia after stroke and its persistence as well. At receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of 11.5 was the best predictive value of persistent dysphagia, with a specificity of 90.1% and a sensitivity of 72.4%.


CONCLUSIONS
Stroke severity is an important predictor of a persistent pattern of dysphagia, with a suggested NIHSS cutoff value of ≥12. An independent correlation was observed with leukoaraiosis and with previous cognitive impairment.
Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, x2018;Sapienza' University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Massimiliano
M
Toscano
Emanuela
E
Cecconi
Elisa
E
Capiluppi
Alessandro
A
Viganò
Pierluigi
P
Bertora
Laura
L
Campiglio
Claudio
C
Mariani
Barbara
B
Petolicchio
Tullia
T
Sasso D'Elia
Angela
A
Verzina
Edoardo
E
Vicenzini
Marco
M
Fiorelli
Giuliana
G
Cislaghi
Vittorio
V
Di Piero
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003679:Deglutition; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D014481:United States