PURPOSE: To compare the performance of Brazilian elderly patients living in a long-term care facility on the 100 ml water swallowing test with the results obtained with British elderly. METHODS: Eighteen elderly subjects (13 women and five men, mean age 83.46), residents in a long-term care facility and considered normal regarding the swallowing function, were selected to take part in this study. As in a British study, they were laterally observed by the examiner while swallowing 100 ml of water from a plastic cup. The examiner observed the number of sips, the time taken, and complications during the test, which generated the following indices: volume per swallow (ml), time per swallow (s), and swallowing capacity (ml/s). RESULTS: The elderly men had lower swallowing capacity than the women in the research, oppositely from the original British study. The mean time per swallow and the mean volume per swallow were similar for both genders. CONCLUSION: The swallowing capacity in elderly subjects is lower than that of normal adults, suggesting slowing in the deglutition process. The difference between genders reported in the original study was not found in the present study; however, our sample was older.
Deglutition; Deglutition disorders; Health services for the aged; Swallowing disorders; Homes for the aged
