| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to determine the liquid bolus volume during swallowing in older healthy adults compared with younger healthy adults. Further, we sought to identify if the method of bolus delivery and texture, common adaptations applied in clinical practice, impacted the bolus volume consumed in healthy persons. Participants were recruited from Texas Christian University faculty, staff, and students using voluntary response, convenience, and snowball sampling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Younger healthy (n = 12, aged 20-38 years) and older healthy participants (n = 10, aged 53-70 years) completed six experimental swallow trials of a thin liquid water bolus during four counterbalanced conditions: non-cued by cup, cued by cup, straw delivery, and carbonated by cup. An independent samples t-test demonstrated that older healthy persons' bolus volume in non-cued water swallows (M=12.41 mL, SD=8.01) was not statistically different from the younger healthy persons' (M=15.04, SD=8.62), t(86)=1.47, p=.146. Paired sample t-tests to examine differences between conditions in healthy persons were also not significant: cued single sip by cup compared to non-cued single sip by cup (p= .498), single straw sip compared to non-cued single sip by cup (p= .268), carbonated single sip and non-cued single sip (non-carbonated) by cup (p=.948). The findings in this pilot study suggest that the liquid bolus volume typically consumed in single sips was not impacted by age. Further, delivery method (straw or providing verbal cues) and texture (carbonated) did not alter the bolus size compared with a natural single liquid bolus by cup. However, a future study should include a larger sample of participants over the age of 65 to examine the effects of aging on liquid bolus volume. | |
