Postintubation Dysphagia During COVID-19 Outbreak-Contemporary Review.
Zofia Frajkova, Miroslav Tedla, Eva Tedlova and 2 others
PMID 32468193WHAT IT FOUND
No COVID-19 dysphagia data yet, but prolonged intubation raises dysphagia risk.
Speech therapists should use nurse-administered screening, keep distance, and avoid FEES/VFS or reflex cough testing unless essential.
Key findings
01No COVID-19-specific dysphagia incidence, diagnosis, or management data were available, and the authors assume these patients are at high risk.
02Instrumental swallowing tests such as FEES and videofluoroscopy are treated as aerosol-generating procedures and should be limited or postponed unless the patient has high aspiration or nutrition risk.
03Nurse-led screening, remote history-taking, protective equipment, and avoiding reflex cough testing or laryngeal palpation are recommended to reduce contact while identifying swallowing risk.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This is a narrative review, not a study of patients, so it reports no new outcomes or tested intervention. The authors state that incidence, diagnosis, and management of dysphagia in COVID-19 patients have not been reported, and their assumptions about high risk are not based on COVID-19 data. The recommended screening and examination modifications are expert recommendations, not tested interventions.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the proposed COVID-19 dysphagia pathway as evidence that it improves outcomes. The paper reports no COVID-19 dysphagia data and no tested intervention, so these are expert recommendations.