What causes an elderly person to aspirate?
What causes aspiration? Some people refer to this as food “going down the wrong way.” This can happen due to reduced tongue control or poor swallowing reflexes. The average person can usually cough out a foreign object before it enters the lungs. This can fail to trigger the swallowing reflex.
How long can an elderly person live with aspiration pneumonia?
Of the patients obsered, 84.2% died during the observation period: the median survival time was 736 days. Major causes of death were pneumonia, respiratory failure, and asphyxia (65.6%).
How do you treat aspiration cough?
Treatment involves antibiotics and supportive care for breathing. Your outlook depends on your state of health prior to the event, the type of foreign material that is aspirated into your lungs, and any other conditions you might have. Most people (79 percent) will survive aspiration pneumonia.
Is aspiration pneumonia common in elderly?
Aspiration pneumonia is a common disease that frequently occurs in elderly patients. Most patients with aspiration pneumonia have swallowing disability and develop hospital‐acquired disability. Frequently, patients have difficulty returning home, and they often require long‐term hospitalization.
How do you treat aspiration in the elderly?
Because aspiration pneumonia in the elderly is related to certain risk factors, including dysphagia and aspiration, effective preventive measures involve various approaches, such as pharmacological therapy, swallowing training, dietary management, oral hygiene and positioning.
How do elderly treat aspiration pneumonia?
Aspiration pneumonia treatment Depending on how far down the airway system the obstruction is, you may need suctioning of the upper airway (the trachea) or a bronchoscopy. You may need to have a tube put into your trachea and connected to a ventilator to help you breathe. Antibiotics will probably be required.
How do doctors treat aspiration?
For people aspiration pneumonia, a doctor may prescribe antibiotics to help clear the infection. When aspiration results from a medical condition, such as a stroke, speech therapy may help to improve a person’s swallowing reflex and lower their risk of aspiration.
Does aspiration always lead to pneumonia?
Aspiration of a foreign body may cause an acute respiratory emergency and, in some cases, may predispose the patient to bacterial pneumonia.
What are the risks of aspiration pneumonia in the elderly?
Morbidity and mortality from aspiration pneumonia continues to be a major health problem in the elderly. A marked depression of cough reflex sensitivity is reported in elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia who show cerebral atrophy and lacunar infarction in the brain [1].
Why do older adults have difficulty swallowing and aspiration?
Aspiration in older adults. Older adults are also more likely to have a condition known as dysphagia, which is difficulty swallowing. It’s common among stroke patients and adults with dementia, Parkinson’s disease, GERD, multiple sclerosis, or other neuromuscular conditions.
How does dysphagia increase the risk of aspiration?
The older adult with one of these conditions is at even greater risk for aspiration because the dysphagia is superimposed on the slowed swallowing rate associated with normal aging. Conditions that suppress the cough reflex (such as sedation) further increase the risk for aspiration.
How to tell if you have aspiration pneumonia?
A voice change (such as hoarseness or a gurgling noise) after swallowing. Pocketing of food on one side of the mouth. Small-volume aspirations that produce no overt symptoms are common and are often not discovered until the condition progresses to aspiration pneumonia.