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Updated: Nov 24, 2025
Adapting Human Videofluoroscopic Swallow Study Methods to Detect and Characterize Dysphagia in Murine Disease Models
Published on: March 1, 2015
Classification of Stroke Patients With Dysphagia Into Subgroups Based on Patterns of Submental Muscle Strength and
Karen B Ng1, Richard D Jones2, Esther Guiu Hernandez1
1University of Canterbury Rose Centre for Stroke Recovery and Research, Christchurch, New Zealand; School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Objectives:
To identify and characterize subgroups of stroke patients with clinical signs of dysphagia, based on swallowing-related strength and skill impairments of the submental muscle group.
Design:
Prospective observational study.
Setting:
Inpatient rehabilitation centers and community dwellings.
Participants:
Individuals (N=114), including stroke patients with dysphagia (n=55) and 2 control groups including myopathic patients with dysphagia (n=19) and healthy volunteers (n=40) were included in this study.
Interventions:
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures:
Novel clinical assessment of strength (force generation) and skill (spatial and temporal precision of muscle activation) of the submental muscle group during swallowing and nonswallowing behaviors, using surface electromyography and dynamometry.
Results:
Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed 4 clusters, which could be broadly characterized as cluster 1: intact strength and skill, cluster 2: poor strength and poor nonswallowing skill, cluster 3: poor strength, and cluster 4: poor strength and poor swallowing skill. Membership in cluster was significantly associated with medical diagnosis (P<.001). The majority of healthy and myopathic participants were assigned to clusters 1 and 3, respectively, whereas stroke patients were found in all 4 clusters. Skill outcome measures were more predictive of cluster assignment than strength measures.
Conclusions:
Although healthy and myopathic participants demonstrated predominantly homogeneous swallowing patterns of submental muscle function within their etiology, several subgroups were identified within stroke, possibly reflecting different subtypes of swallowing function. Future research should focus on the nature and rehabilitation needs of these subtypes. Assessment of skill in swallowing may be an important but overlooked aspect of rehabilitation.
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