HARD to SWALLOW

Swallowing disorders affect 10 percent of Canadians over 50. The good news is they are treatable. But first you have to identify them.

- Anna Sharratt

CATRIONA STEELE SEES A LOT OF PEOPLE who suffer from swallowing disorders (also known as dysphagia). There’s even one in her own family. Though she claims to be fine, one family member coughs and chokes through each meal, struggling to swallow, she says.

Steele, a senior scientist at University Health Network and director of the Swallowing Rehabilitation Research Laboratory at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, is all too aware that, although dysphagia is common, many people either don’t realize they have the condition or are too embarrassed or afraid to treat it. “It’s something that people don’t really want to acknowledge,” she says.

Yet, the impact of the condition can be profound. “It limits the ability of people to participate in any social function that involves eating and drinking,” she says. It can cause choking and hospitalization for pneumonia. “Yet, it flies beneath the radar for patients and health care providers alike,” she says.

WHO’S AT RISK

Dysphagia affects one in 10 people over 50 in Canada, according to Speech-Language & Audiology Canada, and with an older population, that’s set to increase. It can be caused by a stroke (which can weaken the muscles involved in swallowing), cancer, radiation to treat head or neck cancer (which can damage the elasticity of the throat muscles), neurological conditions (such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis) and head injuries.