Relationship between tongue muscle quality and swallowing speed in community-dwelling older women

• Published in: Aging clinical and experimental research 2020-10, Vol.32 (10), p.2073-2079
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Mizue, Koyama, Shingo, Kimura, Yosuke, Ishiyama, Daisuke, Ohji, Shunsuke, Otobe, Yuhei, Nishio, Naohito, Kunieda, Yota, Ichikawa, Takeo, Ito, Daisuke, Ogawa, Hideyuki, Yamada, Minoru
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Cross-Sectional Studies; Deglutition; Deglutition Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Dysphagia; Female; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Humans; Independent Living; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Musculoskeletal system; Neuromuscular diseases; Older people; Original Article; Pressure; Regression analysis; Swallowing; Tongue - diagnostic imaging; Ultrasonic imaging
• ISSN: 1720-8319; 1594-0667; 1720-8319
• DOI: 10.1007/s40520-019-01388-z

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between tongue muscle quality index, which was represented as tongue muscle pressure divided by tongue muscle mass, and swallowing speed in community-dwelling older women. Methods The inclusion criteria for this cross-sectional study were that participants be community-dwelling older women aged 65 years and above without dysphagia. The exclusion criteria were stroke and Parkinson’s disease that directly cause dysphagia. We measured tongue muscle thickness and maximum tongue pressure and the tongue muscle quality index, which was defined as the maximum tongue pressure divided by tongue muscle thickness. We investigated swallowing speed via a 100 ml water swallowing test. To assess the relationship between tongue muscle characteristics and swallowing speed, we performed stepwise multiple regression analysis. Results Ninety-three participants were enrolled in this study (mean age: 84.2 ± 4.7 years). A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that age ( β  = − 0.292, p