Swallow characteristics for fast-paced drinking in 151 patients with COPD based on presence/absence of aspiration
| Aspiration not detected | Aspiration# detected | Mean difference (95% CI) | |
| Subjects n | 121 | 30 | |
| Timed swallow metrics | |||
| Total swallow duration (s) | 8.83±4.17 | 11.07±7.81* | 2.24 (0.19–4.29) |
| Number of swallows to complete task | 5.92±2.28 | 5.60±2.06 | 0.32 (-0.58–1.22) |
| Time per swallow (s per swallow) | 1.51±0.41 | 1.90±0.73*** | 0.39 (0.19–0.59) |
| Swallow frequency (swallows per s) | 0.70±0.16 | 0.59±0.18*** | 0.11 (0.04–0.18) |
| Swallow pattern | |||
| Sequential | 74 (61) | 16 (53) | |
| Mixed | 36 (30) | 10 (33) | |
| Discrete | 11 (9) | 4 (13) | |
Data are presented as mean±sd or n (%), unless otherwise stated. #: aspiration score of 6–8 on the penetration–aspiration scale [9]. *: p≤0.05; ***: p≤0.001.