A influência dos estímulos azedo e gelado nas estases orais e faringeas em idosos saudáveis

Abstract

Senile alterations in the physiology of swallow are known to commonly occur in old age. These changes have explanations and a large part of this population can be adapted and make compensations to be sure that the act of swallowing will not be impaired and will not evolve to dysphagia. The benefits of sensory stimulation in otherwise healthy subjects without degenerative diseases has been seldom studied. This study aims the influence of a cold and sour meal on sensory stimulation of healthy elderly patients with oral and pharyngeal stasis. After clinical analysis that assured absence of swallow-related symptoms, 37 subjects were involved in this observational study. In order to analyze the presence of stasis, videofluoroscopy-imaging of swallowing was performed and the images recorded were analyzed later. All subjects received the offer of 20ml of unflavored liquid and at room temperature and 20ml of sour (tamarind juice) and ice (5 to 10ºC) liquid. As a result it was observed that the sensory stimulus caused by the frozen and the sour food can improve deglutition (p <0.05) by reducing the presence of oral stasis and pharyngeal stasis in this population. Furthermore, the degree of stasis when present also decreases with the stimulation of the iced Tamarind juice. Therefore, we conclude that frozen sour foods can influence on a safer swallowing decreasing the chances of subsequent penetrations or aspirations of food in the airways