Dysphagia or swallowing difficulty is a symptom rather than a disease in its own right, but even so it can have a profound impact on quality of life and impair general health.^1,2

Potential consequences include dehydration and malnutrition, and choking. Inhaling food and drink into the lungs can cause aspirational pneumonia or chronic lung disease - one third of elderly patients with dysphagia may develop pneumonia. For people with a degenerative disease such as Parkinson’s or dementia, it may be a significant factor leading to death.^2,3

Dysphagia also has implications for medicines, being a contributory factor in non-adherence. Medicines may also cause dysphagia.²

It can occur in people of any age. Between a quarter and 40 per cent of infants will have transient feeding difficulties such as colic, vomiting, slow eating or refusal to eat, but ongoing dysphagia is more likely in premature babies and in children with a developmental disability, such as cerebral palsy.^2,4,5,6

Conditions associated with dysphagia in young people include:²

• acquired brain injury or infection (eg meningitis)
• muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular disorders
• congenital syndromes such as Prader Willi and Down’s syndromes
• structural problems such as cleft pallet or a small lower jaw
• cardiovascular disorders (congenital heart disease)
• gastrointestinal disorders (eg gastroesophageal reflux)
• chronic lung disease.