More than half of C0vid-19 patients admitted to a Barcelona hospital had difficulty swallowing

More than half of C0vid-19 patients admitted to a hospital in Barcelona had difficuty swallowing food and drink, and now considers this a symptom.

A STUDY at Hospital de Mataró has determined that 53 per cent of coronavirus patients treated at the facility presented “oropharyngeal dysphagia”.

Director of research, Dr Pere Clavé, said in addition 75 per cent were “at risk of malnutrition”, with 27.1 per cent of these at a moderate or severe level.

The study was carried out on 200 patients and will continue to analyse the appearance of malnutrition and dysphagia in patients admitted with Covid-19, as well as the treatments and follow-up procedures applied.

“In addition, we will also evaluate whether patients with dysphagia and nutritional risk have a worse prognosis, with hospital readmissions, emergency room visits and respiratory infections, than those without these medical conditions,” said Dr Clavé.

Seemingly, patients suffering from dysphagia are on average 10 years younger than those usually admitted to hospital for other reasons, such as stroke, bacterial pneumonia or heart disease.

Dr Clavé said: “It has made us aware of the terrible impact of dysphagia and its complications, such as dehydration, malnutrition and respiratory infection”.

He also warned that it is necessary to prepare “for a new wave of the pandemic, when it comes to improving protocols for clinical response in the management of patients admitted with dysphagia”.

The scientific community is providing evidence for WHO to assess dysphagia as a symptom associated with Covid-19, as has already happened with anosmia (loss of smell) and dysgeusia (loss of taste).