Objective: This five-year chart review study examined dysphagia in Hispanic patients with PD, specifically, the occurrence of dysphagia in Hispanic patients with PD that were seen at Rush Parkinson’s Disease Program between 1/2015 and 12/2019; the presence of dysphagia or dysphagia complaints concerning socio-demographic factors and disease presentation; and the agreement between physician-identified dysphagia and patient-reported dysphagia symptoms, and physician referral rates for diagnostic testing.

Background: Dysphagia occurs in 81% of patients with PD. Dysphagia leads to malnutrition and aspiration pneumonia, the leading cause of death in PD. Hispanics are the largest ethnic/racial minority within the US and are projected to grow to 74.8 million by 2030.  However, the implications of dysphagia in non-White PD patients have yet to be investigated. Healthcare disparities within PD patients of different ethnicities are understudied. Specifically, research investigating Hispanics with PD and dysphagia is severely lacking.

Method: The data was obtained from medical charts at Rush Parkinson’s Disease Program in Chicago from 1/1/2015 to 12/31/2019. The study protocol was approved by the Rush IRB. The data were collected from chart review of subjects meeting the inclusionary criteria: Hispanic, a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, seen by a neurologist at Rush Parkinson’s Disease Program between 1/1/2015 and 12/31/2019. The exclusion criteria were: Clinical diagnosis of dementia, depression, any neurological disorder other than IPD; any esophageal disorder; history of strokes, head trauma, head/neck cancer, cervical spine surgery, cleft lip/cleft palate, and current tracheostomy. The data obtained were organized into three sets: Individual Patient Profile, Motor Scores, and Dysphagia and Referrals.

Results: A total of 344 subjects seen at Rush between 1/1/2015 and 12/31/2019, 54/344 (15.7%) were found to have dysphagia complaints, while 23/54 subjects (42.59%) had a diagnosis of dysphagia listed in their chart, 12/23 (52.17%) received a physician referral for dysphagia testing and 10/12 (83.33%) received a confirmed diagnosis of dysphagia.

Conclusion: The reporting rate of 15.7% in Hispanic PD patients in this study was far below the current estimates of 81% for dysphagia in individuals with PD. More analyses have done to explore the contributing factors to the current finding.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/dysphagia-in-hispanic-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-a-single-center-5-year-retrospective-chart-review-study/