Association between clinical evaluation and self perception of deglutition with motor disability scale in patients with multiple sclerosis.
Dandara Tailuma Weiler Piloti, Vânia Carolina Devitte Ruiz, Marlise de Castro Ribeiro and 1 others
PMID 35019079WHAT IT FOUND
Higher motor disability scores were linked to more swallowing complaints and worse swallowing on clinical assessment in adults with multiple sclerosis.
This supports screening, not proof that disability causes swallowing problems.
Key findings
01Higher motor disability scores were associated with higher self-reported swallowing concern and worse clinical swallowing findings.
02Twenty-nine participants had mild dysphagia on clinical swallowing assessment, and 27 participants had an EAT-10 score below three.
03Patients on first-line medication and patients with relapsing-remitting MS reported fewer swallowing complaints than patients on second-line medication or with primarily progressive MS.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was a cross-sectional study, so it cannot show that disability caused swallowing problems or that medication line caused them. Only 48 patients from one hospital clinic were included, and only 1 had secondarily progressive MS. The authors note that heterogeneity of the groups and different motor impairments limit claims about treatment effects on dysphagia. Treatment line was not assigned randomly, and first-line or second-line medication use likely reflected disease stage and prior treatment failure, so the contribution of medication cannot be separated from disease severity.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the association between first-line medication and fewer swallowing complaints as proof that the medication improves swallowing. The paper states that treatment choice likely reflects disease course, and the authors say there are not enough data to indicate drug influence on dysphagia.