Prevalence of Dysphagia in Acute Stroke Patients: Cross Section Study

Objective: To estimate prevalence of dysphagia in first time hemorrhagic or ischemic (both thrombotic and embolic) acute stroke patients also to determine the impact of (age, sex and severity of illness) on post stroke dysphagia.Methods: Two hundred patients (152 ischemic, 48 hemorrhagic) with first ever acute stroke were recruited. Detailed history and neurological examination were done for each one of the patients. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to determine the severity of stroke while swallowing was screened by Gugging swallowing screen (GUSS) which is the only screening tool for dysphagia which uses multiple consistencies for testing swallowing function.Results: Fifty-four (27%) of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke patients had post stroke dysphagia, 35 (23.03%) from group with ischemia, 19 (39.6%) from group with hemorrhage. Age of dysphagic patients was higher than non-dysphagic patients while it was higher in ischemic patients than hemorrhagic patients. The mean total NIHSS score was higher in dysphagic patients and was higher in hemorrhagic ones. Severity of dysphagia was significantly correlated with stroke severity and age of the patient. Conclusion: The frequency of post-stroke dysphagia (27%) is near the results of the previous studies in literature. Severity of dysphagia is higher in ischemic stroke. Old age and severity of stroke were the main determinant of severity of dysphagia.