Screening for oropharyngeal dysphagia in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: a prospective study

Purpose To screen for oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods A descriptive longitudinal study was conducted on 500 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 in the age range of 19–65 years who were admitted to the main university isolation hospital (whether admitted in the ward or the intensive care unit). Screening for OD was done using the Arabic version of the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) and the Yale swallow protocol. Results 45.4% of the admitted and 40.97% of the discharged COVID-19 patients had a positive screen for OD. Several risk factors for OD could be detected. These include older age, longer duration of presenting symptoms of COVID-19, presence of ageusia and anosmia, presence of dysphonia, ICU admission, lower oxygen saturation, higher respiratory rate, presence of OD at admission, longer duration of hospital stay, and use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and/or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Conclusions Screening for OD in hospitalized COVID-19 patients is a mandatory procedure, whether for admitted or discharged patients.