| Objective: To investigate the effect of oral neuromuscular training on rehabilitation of swallowing function in elderly patients with debilitation in community. Methods： Totally, 116 elderly patients with frailty and dysphagia were randomly divided into experimental group and control group (n=58 in each group). The experimental group was treated with oral neuromuscular training, while the control group received routine swallowing function rehabilitation training. After 6 months of intervention, the swallowing function, nutritional status, debilitating state and quality of life of the two groups were compared. Results： After 6 months of intervention, the VGF score of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.01). Nutritional improvement was more satisfactory in the experimental group than that in the control group (P<0.05). In addition, Fried fission score, total score of SWAL-QOL and scores of each dimension were significantly higher in the experimental group than those in the control group (P<0.01). The results of intra-group comparison showed the VGF score of patients in the experimental group after intervention was significantly higher than that before intervention (P<0.01). The nutritional status, Fried weakness score, total score of SWAL-QOL and scores of all dimensions in the experimental group were higher than those before intervention (P<0.05), while there were no differences in the psychological burden, symptom frequency and food choice dimension in the control group. The total score of SWAL-QOL and other dimensions in the control group after intervention were higher than those before intervention (P<0.05). Conclusion： Oral neuromuscular training can effectively promote the rehabilitation of swallowing function, improve malnutrition, delay the state of weakness and improve the quality of life of elderly patients in community. |
