Characterization of hospitalized patients with suspected dysphagia at Hospital San Camilo, San Felipe

Abstract

Introduction: The swallowing disorder is called dysphagia and presents complications such as dehydration, malnutrition and aspiration pneumonia, situations that unfavorably condition the state of health, increasing morbidity and mortality. In Chile, there are few publications to date that provide an account of clinical history that allow the description of patients with suspected dysphagia. Aim: To describe the clinical characteristics of hos- pitalized patients with suspected dysphagia at Hospital San Camilo de San Felipe, Chile. Material and Method: Descriptive study of 767 patient records, between the years 2017 and 2019. Demographic information and clinical history were reviewed. For qualitative variables, proportions and frequency distributions were used, for quantitative variables, measures of central tendency were used. Results: 58.54% of the patients were male and 79.4% corresponded to elderly people (79.4%). Neurological pathologies represented the most frequent admission diagnosis (61.93%). 14.73% had a history of endotracheal in- tubation, 8.34% had a tracheostomy, and 84.09% were partial or total edentulous. In the evaluation with food, multiple swallows and the presence of cough corresponded to the most frequent alterations in efficacy and safety. In 82.01%, dysphagia was diagnosed and the majority of neurogenic etiology (68.45%). Conclusion: The present study allowed us to describe the clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with suspected dysphagia. In this context, extubated, tracheostomized patients and the elderly with neurological disorders or respiratory pathologies are presented as potential candidates for swallowing evaluation.