4.3 Article

Healthy Women and Men Do Not Show Differences in Tongue Strength and Regular Effort Saliva Swallows as Assessed by Piezo-Resistive Sensors: Results from a Reproducibility Study

Journal

DYSPHAGIA
Volume 37, Issue 5, Pages 1217-1225

Publisher

SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00455-021-10381-6

Keywords

Tongue; Pressure force; Gender; Swallowing; Reliability; Deglutition; Deglutition disorders

Funding

  1. Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla [FISM 2018/R/9]

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The study aimed to establish the reproducibility of tongue strength measurements in healthy women and men. Men showed a trend for generating larger forces during MAIP and RESS, which disappeared after normalization analysis. Retest results showed that MAIP and RESS were stable and reliable in both genders, but with moderate variability.
The aim of this study was to establish the reproducibility of tongue strength measurements in healthy women and men during maximum anterior isometric pressure (MAIP) and regular effort saliva swallows (RESS). In this cross-sectional study, 30 healthy young adults were required to push with the tip of the tongue on a piezo-resistive sensor glued to the hard palate, immediately above the central incisor line. Tongue pressures exerted on the sensor during MAIP and spontaneous RESS were recorded. Participants underwent a retest procedure within the same session to verify the reproducibility of measurements, as determined by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and minimum detectable change (MDC). Complete data were obtained from 30 subjects (15 women, 15 men; mean age 31.4 +/- 7.8 years; mean weight 61.3 +/- 9.4 kg). Compared to women, men showed a trend for generating larger MAIP (p = 0.06; d = 0.71) and RESS (p = 0.07; d = 0.69). After normalizing to body weight, height, and body mass index (BMI), such trends disappeared. At retest, MAIP and RESS proved stable and highly reliable (all ICCs >= 0.93) in men and women but associated to moderate variability as for SEM and MDC, with MAIP estimates associated to smaller SEM and MDC (SEM ranging 7.4-14.2%; MDC 18.6-20.9%) than RESS (SEM ranging 20.4-38.5%; MDC 52.5-55.6%). Piezo-resistive pressure sensors allow clinicians and researchers to perform reproducible measurements of tongue muscle performance. However, if therapeutic interventions are administered, measurement variability in tongue performance should be considered when appraising their clinical efficacy, especially for those populations who display impaired performance and may not be capable to generate high and stable forces. No gender-based differences emerged in the motor tasks tested.

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