Prevalence of patient-reported dysphagia in multiple sclerosis patients: an Italian multicenter study (using the DYMUS questionnaire)

J Neurol Sci. 2013 Aug 15;331(1-2):94-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2013.05.020. Epub 2013 Jun 6.

Abstract

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) with a chronic course. Dysphagia represents one of the current challenges in clinical practice for the management of MS patients. Dysphagia starts to appear in mildly impaired MS subjects (EDSS 2-3) and becomes increasingly common in the most severely disabled subjects (EDSS 8-9). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency and characteristics of patient-reported dysphagia in MS patients with a multicenter study using the recently developed DYMUS (DYsphagia in MUltiple Sclerosis) questionnaire.

Design: Data were collected in a multi-centre, cross-sectional study using a face-to-face structured questionnaire for clinical characteristics and the DYMUS questionnaire.

Results: 1875 patients were interviewed. The current study has shown a correlation between patient-reported dysphagia and EDSS and disease course but not with age, gender and disease duration. Questionnaires were divided into "patient-reported dysphagia-yes" (587, 31.3%) and "patient-reported dysphagia-no" (1288, 68.7%). Compared with the patient-reported dysphagia-no group, patients in patient-reported dysphagia-yes group had higher EDSS score (mean EDSS 4.6 vs. 2.8; p<0.001) and had a longer disease duration (mean duration 13 years vs. 11 years; p<0.001), while there was no significant difference in gender (32.7% vs. 30.5% male and 67.3% vs. 69.5% female) and in age composition (46.18 vs. 42.05).

Conclusions: This study represents the largest, multi-centre sample of MS patients evaluated for patient-reported dysphagia utilizing an ad-hoc questionnaire for this condition.

Keywords: Central Nervous System; DYMUS; Dysphagia; Extended Disability Status Scale; Multiple sclerosis; Swallowing problem.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Deglutition Disorders / diagnosis
  • Deglutition Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Deglutition Disorders / etiology*
  • Disability Evaluation
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Italy
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multiple Sclerosis / complications*
  • Prevalence
  • Self Report*
  • Statistics as Topic
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*
  • Young Adult