老化對吞嚥功能之影響

Age Effects on Swallowing

隨著年齡的增長，吞嚥功能也隨之退化，老年人吞嚥困難的問題不僅會造成脫水、營養不均衡或吸入性肺炎等生理問題，也會使老年人因嗆咳而害怕飲食或社交隔離等心理問題。本文統整了老化影響吞嚥功能之生理機轉，包含口腔黏膜及口腔感覺、口咽部肌肉力量、吞嚥及咳嗽反射、舌骨移位及舌骨會厭韌帶肌肉的改變，期使大家對老化的吞嚥困難有更多的了解， 以早期發現並早期給予適當的治療或復健，減少症狀惡化或合併症的發生。

Swallowing function degenerates with age. Swallowing difficulties not only make the elderly hesitate to eat and increase the chances of dehydration and malnutrition, but also make them susceptible to aspiration pneumonia and social isolation because of embarrassment about eating in front of others. This article aims to review the age effects on swallowing mechanism, including the changes of oral mucosa and oral sensation, weakening of oropharyngeal muscle power, compromised swallowing and cough reflex, and displacement of hyoid bone and hyoepiglottic ligament. We hope that by enhancing the awareness among professionals, swallowing difficulties in the elderly could be detected earlier and timely therapeutic treatments could be provided to reduce the swallowing-related complications and disability.