Prevalence of self-reported swallowing difficulties and associated factors among older Colombians

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the prevalence of self-reported swallowing difficulty (dysphagia) among older Colombians and to explore the factors associated with this condition.
METHODS: This study presents a secondary analysis of the SABE-Colombia survey, a cross-sectional study of community-dwelling older adults. The dependent variable was self-reported swallowing difficulty, assessed through the question: “How often do you have difficulty or discomfort swallowing?” Descriptive and bivariate analyses of the sample were performed, followed by multivariate analysis, adjusting for confounding variables.
RESULTS: The final sample included 19 004 older Colombians, whose mean age was 69 years (56% women). The overall prevalence of swallowing difficulty was 12.2%. In the multivariate analysis, significant associations were observed between swallowing difficulty and several factors, including male sex (OR 1.14, 95%CI 1.03 – 1.26), age > 80 years (OR 1.26, 95%CI 1.08 – 1.47), dependence in activities of daily living (OR 1.62, 95%CI 1.23 – 2.13), cognitive impairment (OR 1.49, 95%CI 1.30 – 1.70), depressive symptoms (OR 1.38, 95%CI 1.15 – 1.65), sarcopenia (OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.02 – 1.69), malnutrition (OR 1.35, 95%CI 1.23 – 1.49), and osteoarticular disease (OR 1.18, 95%CI 1.07 – 1.38).
CONCLUSION: There was a high prevalence of swallowing difficulty among older community-dwelling Colombians. Our results showed a strong correlation between swallowing difficulty and risk factors such as cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms, osteoarticular disease, and dependence in activities of daily living, but not with malnutrition or sarcopenia.