Dysphagia cases description at a specialized rehabilitation center in Alagoas

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the characteristics of dysphagia patients in speech therapy at a Specialized Rehabilitation Outpatient Program in Alagoas. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory study was carried out, with quantitative descriptive analysis of medical records of patients in therapy in 2015 and 2016. Data were collected in a structured record, following as reference the Dysphagia Risk Evaluation Protocol (DREP). Chi-square test was used, considering 5% significance level. Results: 27 medical records were analyzed, 40,74% were adults, 55,56% were men, 47,08% were retired, 88,89% from the capital, with low schooling (37,04) and forwarded by neurologists (33,33%); 88,89% presented neurogenic dysphagia, 55,56% low-grade dysphagia; 29,63% were affected by chronic non progressive encephalopathy and 18,52% encephalic vascular accident, showing coexistent dysphagia signals and symptoms, being 88,89% cough and choking, 81,48% cough, 62,96% oral escape and 55,56% multiple swallowing; 51,85% showed complications associated with dysphagia; 77,78% did not use alternative feeding methods; 55,56% did only clinical evaluation for the dysphagia diagnosis; 66,67% never did speech therapy previously and 59,10% were able to establish oral feeding. It was found significance (p ≤ 0, 0001) between feeding method with dysphagia grade. Conclusion: It was possible to evidence a population with heterogeneous characteristics regarding socialdemographic and clinical findings, being possible to track information about characteristics showed by those patients, contributing positively to execute actions more directive and effective, providing a specialized and targeted looking to this population.