People with COPD May Have Problems with Swallowing-Breathing Dynamic
March 27, 2009
HealthDay News
A disrupted breathing-swallowing pattern may explain why people with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk for aspiration pneumonia, researchers report.
Patients with moderate to severe COPD show alterations between normal breathing and swallowing patterns (during eating) even when they’re not experiencing exacerbations, according to the study by Roxann Diez Gross and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh.
“In healthy subjects, the usual pattern is to time swallows to occur during early to mid exhalation. Healthy individuals also nearly exclusively follow each swallow with exhalation. This pattern assures that there is sufficient air pressure below the vocal folds during a swallow and prevents inhalation of food residue after swallowing,” Gross said in the news release.
To continue reading the article, click here.