RESEARCH! SEE THE NEW WAY TO TREAT SWALLOWING PROBLEMS

A New Way of Treating Swallowing Problems has been revealed.

Australians are dying from preventable chronic disease. Chronic diseases are responsible for 90% of Australian deaths and significant expense to health budgets. In the top five is COPD, chronic lung disease, which costs over $300 million in care annually. As COPD progresses, it becomes harder for people to breathe. COPD is increasing.

Swallowing difficulties are common for people with COPD, but unfortunately they can cause serious health problems and reduced quality of life. Patients can choke, or be unable to eat or drink properly.

There are nearly 500 new cases of COPD each year coming to The Prince Charles Hospital alone. On average, people spend a week in hospital with 25% having more than one hospital stay. The costs of managing COPD are expected to increase with chronic diseases on the rise.

Dr Petrea Cornwell is a speech pathologist. Her research looked at how to identify and treat swallowing problems in people with COPD to improve patient quality of life and reduce the expense on the health system of admitting people with infections or other health issues as a result of their problems swallowing.

Outcome:

Thanks to this study, there has been a change in clinical practice so that all people with COPD coming into the hospital with a chest infection are given a swallow test. Predictive measures have been developed to identify which patients are more likely to have swallowing related problems such as malnutrition and infection.

Benefit:

The research shows that swallowing problems contribute to chest infections and malnutrition in people with COPD. By better managing swallowing problems, chest infections may be reduced, leading to better quality of life and less time in hospital.