Clinical progression and outcome of individuals with and without swallowing impairment following non-traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage: A retrospective cohort study.

Purpose: To establish the clinical profiles of individuals with and without dysphagia following non-traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), and to further describe the clinical progression and outcome of dysphagia within the acute phase for those individuals with dysphagia.Method: Retrospective chart review of 250 patients consecutively admitted with non-traumatic SAH to a major, tertiary neurosurgery referral centre in Australia over a three-year period. Clinical information associated with usual clinical care was collected for the duration of the acute hospital admission. Characteristics of participants with dysphagia (n = 73/250) were further analysed to evaluate dysphagia progression and recovery.Result: Participants with dysphagia took 10.93 times longer to commence oral intake following admission than those without dysphagia (p < 0.01). Those with dysphagia took approximately 12.86 times longer to reach total oral feeding than those without dysphagia (p < 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference between groups for time to SLP referral (p = 0.549) or commencement of supplemental feeding (p = 0.256). Safe management of thin fluids occurred for >50% of participants by weeks 2 and 3 following admission, with 75.34% of participants with dysphagia resuming thin fluids by discharge. Safe management of full diet took slightly longer with 32.88% of participants resuming unmodified diet by week 3. By discharge, only 53.42% of participants resumed a full diet.

Conclusion

The clinical progression and recovery of dysphagia within the acute phase following non-traumatic SAH can be protracted for some patients, necessitating ongoing speech-language pathology (SLP) input after discharge. The study findings will enhance SLP assessment processes, management focuses and guide prognostic decision making for this population.