Dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease: Prevalence, Impact and Management Challenges

The aim of this review is to present an update of the prevalence, impact and management challenges of dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease. In the last 5 years, the prevalence of dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been reported with a wide range of values in the literature. The dysphagia prevalence ranged from 11% to 100% of the patients with PD. This variation, generally, depended on the disease stage and the procedure of swallowing assessment. In the management of dysphagia, compensatory techniques, rehabilitation exercises and deep-brain stimulation have been conducted. Despite of the lack of high scientific evidences of efficiency of the majority of these interventions, the positive aspects and benefits are described in the actual literature. Moreover, this review paper discuss about the importance of the dysphagia assessment and treatment in the best timing to prevent complications, as pulmonary and nutritional impairment, and to improve quality of life.