AGE AND VOLUME EFFECTS ON LIQUID SWALLOWING FUNCTION IN NORMAL WOMEN

Understanding the nature of swallowing in persons without swallowing p roblems is a prerequisite to evaluating the nature and extent of dysph agia in persons with compromised swallowing. In order to determine how swallowing varies with age and with liquid bolus volume in women, we assessed 167 normal female swallowers videofluoroscopically and obtain ed multiple measures of swallowing Function. The women in this study d emonstrated a change in swallowing Function with age, duel primarily t o an increase in pharyngeal transit and total duration of the motor re sponse. The duration of closure and opening of valves in the upper aer odigestive tract also increased with age, and the duration of laryngea l elevation and hyoid movement peaked in the 60-79-year-old age groups . Bolus volume effects were quite consistent across most measures. As the bolus volume increased From 1 ml to 10 ml, transit times decreased and durations of valve closure and opening increased. The results of this study may be used to specify the relationship of swallowing funct ion to age and liquid bolus volume in women, relationships that hereto fore have been observed only in part and in smaller and more heterogen eous populations.