Oropharyngeal Dysphagia and Diabetes Mellitus: Screening of 200 Type 1 and Type 2 Patients in Cairo, Egypt.

BACKGROUND: Although diabetes mellitus is a well-researched systemic endocrinal disease, literature is scarce addressing the co-occurrence of oropharyngeal dysphagia with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to screen Egyptian diabetic patients for symptoms suggestive of oropharyngeal dysphagia using the validated Arabic version of the Eating Assessment Tool (A-EAT-10).

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: 200 Egyptian adult diabetic patients, aged from 18 to 59 years participated in the study. The inclusion criteria were being diabetic patients of type 1 or type 2. Patients were asked to complete the A-EAT-10 questionnaire.

RESULTS: Age progression and being female were found to be risk factors for dysphagia among diabetic patients participating in this study. The most common symptom among diabetic patients who complained of dysphagia was "I cough when I eat."

CONCLUSION: The present study suggests the presence of oropharyngeal swallowing problems among patients with diabetes mellitus.