Assessment of impaired coordination between respiration and deglutition in children and young adults with ataxia telangiectasia.
Maureen A Lefton-Greif, Adrienne L Perlman, Xuming He and 2 others
PMID 27214374WHAT IT FOUND
Children and young adults with ataxia telangiectasia showed less safe breathing-swallowing coordination than healthy peers, especially after swallowing.
The method was research-only, and the study did not show these measures predicted symptoms.
Key findings
01The pattern described as safest, expiration before and after swallowing, occurred significantly less often in both younger and older participants with ataxia telangiectasia than in age-matched controls.
02The most worrisome pattern, inspiration before and after swallowing, was more common in older participants with ataxia telangiectasia than in older controls.
03The breathing pause around swallowing lasted longer in older participants with ataxia telangiectasia than older controls (0.91s vs 0.72s, p <0.005).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 20 participants with ataxia telangiectasia were studied, and the design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show how any individual changed over time. The participants with ataxia telangiectasia received 3ml boluses, while the control data used 5ml boluses. The recording method was research-based and labor intensive, not part of routine clinical care. Two raters agreed moderately on airflow direction for participants with ataxia telangiectasia (kappa=0.50) and substantially on pause duration (kappa=0.68). Four participants had no dysphagic or aspiration concerns; this was too few for statistical analysis, and age, neurological z-score, and BMI were not predictive. The supplied text does not report aspiration events or clinical swallowing outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no interests that might be perceived as posing a conflict or bias. The supplied publication types list non-U.S. government and NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these breathing-swallowing differences as a clinical diagnosis of dysphagia or a prediction of aspiration. The study used a research-only recording method, did not test whether the patterns predicted symptoms, and included only 20 participants with ataxia telangiectasia.