Stimulation Treatments for Dysphagia Benefit Patients With Parkinson Disease

Dysphagia interventions, specifically stimulation treatments, appear to benefit patients with Parkinson disease, according to results from a meta-analysis published in Neurogastroenterology & Motility.

“Our findings suggested that, when analyzed as a group, dysphagia treatments may potentially reduce the risks of aspiration and penetration and improve the timing of the swallowing reflex in Parkinson disease patients,” wrote researchers from the University of Manchester in England. “Subgroup analyses revealed that behavioral treatments did not show significant effects, whereas stimulation treatments showed significant and large effects.”

The meta-analysis included 9 randomized controlled trials that included 286 patients. Researchers identified no trials on pharmacological treatments eligible for inclusion.

Compared with control comparators, the pooled effect size for all dysphagia treatments overall was significant and medium, with standardized mean difference of 0.58, according to the study.

For stimulation treatments including brain stimulation, peripheral neurostimulation, and acupuncture, the standardized mean difference was 0.54, researchers reported. Single randomized controlled trials revealed significant, large effects for neuromuscular stimulation and acupuncture: standardized mean differences were 1.58 for neuromuscular stimulation and 0.82 for acupuncture.

“However, given the limited number of small randomized controlled trials for each type of treatment, the evidence remains weak and uncertain,” researchers wrote. “Further large-scale, multicenter randomized controlled trials are warranted to fully explore their clinical efficacy in the Parkinson disease population.”

Reference:
Cheng I, Sasegbon A, Hamdy S. Dysphagia treatments in Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurogastroenterol Motil. Published online December 22, 2022. doi:10.1111/nmo.14517