None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive condition that affects at least 1% of people over 65 with 10% of PD cases younger than 50. Drooling occurs in up to 74% of people with PD and leads to debilitating effects on social interaction, confidence, speech and eating. Despite its high prevalence, treatments for drooling are limited because the cause is unclear. It is assumed that people with PD swallow their saliva less frequently than the general population, and that this leads to an accumulation of saliva in the mouth. However, a reduction in swallowing rates has not been definitively established in research. This study aims to measure the rate of spontaneous saliva swallowing in people with and without PD. A non-invasive, validated method will be used to count swallows in participants recruited from the Parkinson’s Program at Cabrini rehabilitation. Swallowing rates will be compared between groups and results will show whether swallowing rates differ in PD. This information is vital for developing treatments for this degrading symptom of Parkinson’s. Lower swallowing rates in Parkinson’s will support treatments to encourage swallowing more regularly, whereas no difference in rates will call these approaches into question.
Interventions
A matched case design will be used for this study. Thirty people with Parkinson's and thirty controls will be recruited.
The primary independent variable will be PD diagnosis (y/n) and the primary dependent variable will be frequency of spontaneous salivary swallowing (swallows/minute).
Spontaneous swallowing is measured in a single session using audio recordings of swallowing via an electret microphone secured to the participant's neck. Participants are set up to use a tablet-based distract
A matched case design will be used for this study. Thirty people with Parkinson's and thirty controls will be recruited. The primary independent variable will be PD diagnosis (y/n) and the primary dependent variable will be frequency of spontaneous salivary swallowing (swallows/minute). Spontaneous swallowing is measured in a single session using audio recordings of swallowing via an electret microphone secured to the participant's neck. Participants are set up to use a tablet-based distraction task and left alone in a quiet, temperature-controlled room for 30 minutes. The assessor is blinded to participant group. They use waveform and spectrogram information and unrestricted playback in Audacity to count the number of swallows. The first five minutes of the sample is not analysed, in order to ensure participants were sufficiently distracted.
Sponsors
John E. Pierce
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
• Aged over 18 years [All participants] • Diagnosis of Idiopathic PD as per neurologist [Parkinson's participants only] • Hoehn & Yahr Parkinson’s severity >1 [Parkinson's participants only] • If taking saliva management medication, cognitively able to consent to cease for three days prior [Parkinson's participants only]
Exclusion criteria
• History of stroke • History of head and neck cancer • History of neurological conditions (other than PD) • History of surgery or trauma impacting the upper aerodigestive tract • Pathological oral condition as observed on examination by Speech Pathologist • Allergy to adhesives • Deep Brain Stimulator • Botox to salivary glands past 6 months
Outcome results
None listed