The Occurrence Rate of Swallowing Disorders After Stroke Patients in Asia: A PRISMA-Compliant Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) is common in stroke patients. However, the epidemiology of post-stroke dysphagia (PSD) is poorly described. We herein synthesize the data of eligible studies on occurrence rate of dysphagia in Asian populations with stroke.

Methods: We searched the electronic databases (PubMed, Embase and Web of Science) to collect the studies on the prevalence of PSD. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) to estimate the quality of studies. The pooled dysphagia occurrence rate was obtained in Asian stroke patients.

Results: 40 studies (including 43 observations) from 2318 initial references were selected in the synthetic analysis. The pooled occurrence rate of dysphagia in post-stroke patients was 36.3% (95% CI, 33.3%-39.3%). Meta-regression analysis showed that the "country" and "developing level" may influence the pooled occurrence rate of PSD.

Conclusion: Dysphagia is common in Asian post-stroke patients. Our meta-analysis may raise concern about evaluating and managing dysphagia in stroke patients.

Keywords: Dysphagia; Meta-analysis; Stroke; Swallowing disorders; occurrence rate.