Swallowing disorders in the elderly

Life expectancy is increasing; consequently, there are more and more older people. They live at home as long as they can take care of themselves or until other family members can look after them. Admission of elderly people into specialised institutions (nursing home) is usually related to bigger problems connected with everyday activities, which elderly people can no longer cope with and therefore need constant care. Many international studies point to the swallowing issues and many symptoms of swallowing disorder with elderly people. Studies often describe different illnesses and conditions of elderly people, of which the swallowing disorder is the most common and the most intensive one. There has been no study about the frequency of swallowing disorder in Slovene space. With this study I wanted to research the swallowing issues with Slovene elderly people. I was interested to see, how common these issues are, what the symptoms are, how frequently they appear and how intensive they are. I also wanted to verify whether the elderly people have any other illnesses where the swallowing problems are even bigger. I conducted a research interview. Almost half of the interviewees were residents in a nursing home (Dom upokojencev Danice Vogrinec Maribor), and others were in home care. I obtained a research sample of 66 elderly people. The occurrence of swallowing disorder was determined with the use of an interview based on professional literature. The interview was conducted with all the participants, and with their permission I used their medical records to summarize the diagnoses of their illnesses and conditions which could influence the swallowing disorder. The research showed that 40,9 % of elderly people have the swallowing disorder. In the group of elderly people that still live at home there are 17,6 % of those who have the swallowing issues. The ones living in the nursing home have more problems. Those issues are even more intense. There were statistically significant differences between the two research groups. Apparently, with the elderly people living in the nursing home it is common for more issues to occur at the same time. The research sample included elderly people with different illnesses and conditions of which swallowing disorder is the most common. The interview samples of the interviewees with the same conditions were small; however, I still noticed that elderly people mention approximately the same symptoms which occur while eating and immediately after it. The most common and the most intense symptoms of swallowing disorder with elderly people are coughing and fatigue, which are connected to swallowing and eating. Elderly people are well aware of their swallowing issues; nevertheless, there are always at least two symptoms of swallowing disorder present. The research of my diploma paper points to a number of often hidden swallowing problems of elderly people, gives us an insight into this issue and presents us possible options to help