The Prevalence of Dysphagia in the Elderly: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background and Aim : Dysphagia is an important problem that is believed to be more common in the older population. Better insight in the prevalence of dysphagia in the elderly people may improve its early detection and effective rehabilitation treatment. We presented a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of dysphagia in general and subjective and objective method, in the elderly people.Methods : The international databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar) and the national databases (Magiran, Iran Medex, and Scientific Information Database) were searched. The standard error of the prevalence reported in each study was calculated assuming a binomial distribution. We used a random-effects model to combine the prevalence rates reported in the studies. We conducted the meta-analysis using the metan application of Stata statistical software. Cross-sectional and prospective cohort studies were reviewed.Results : Twelve articles entered the meta-analysis phase; the estimation of the general prevalence of dysphagia in the elderly people was 29.38% (95%CI:18.67-40.8) in all the 12 studies. Moreover, the estimate of the prevalence via the subjective (8 studies) and objective (4 studies) methods were 18.6% (95%CI:10.45-26.9) and 45.2% (95%CI:22.43-67.96), respectively.Conclusion : This is proven that dysphagia is a more common problem in the elderly population. So should was programed for early diagnosis of dysphagia and in time treatment in the elderly population.

کلیدواژه ها:

Dysphagia ، Prevalence ، Aging ، elderly ، meta-analysis