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Effects of Sequential Swallowing on Drive to Breathe in Young, Healthy Adults

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Abstract

Sequential swallowing is the act of swallowing multiple times, without pausing. Because sequential swallowing requires breath-holding, it seems likely that it could increase the drive to breathe. This study was designed to determine if sequential swallowing is accompanied by an increased drive to breathe in young, healthy adults. We predicted that sequential swallowing would be accompanied by prolonged breath-holding in most cases, and that this would be followed by a recovery phase during which ventilation would increase for a brief period. Results showed that not only did healthy participants increase ventilation after sequential swallowing, they also experienced breathing discomfort (dyspnea) despite the fact that they usually continued to breathe during the swallowing sequence. Given that these effects are observable in young, healthy adults, it seems reasonable to assume that individuals with respiratory and/or neurological compromise would also have an increased drive to breathe during sequential swallowing.

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Notes

  1. We found that drinking from a cup (without a straw) required neck extension, which created movement artifacts in the respiratory magnetometer data. That is, even minimal neck extension increased the magnitude of the rib cage signal, creating an apparent inspiration during breath-holding. Had we used a cup-drinking protocol rather than a straw-drinking protocol, our measurements of end-inspiratory lung volume might have been artificially inflated.

  2. Nasal pressure was also recorded (using a nasal cannula connected to a pressure transducer); however, submental muscle activity was found to be a better indicator of the swallow, so the nasal pressure signal was not used for analysis.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Robert W. Lansing, Ph.D., for his assistance with this study and his expertise in the area of dyspnea measurement, and Kelsie Grant, B.S., for her assistance with data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, 1131 East 2nd Street, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Amy Lederle, Jeannette D. Hoit & Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer

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  1. Amy Lederle
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  2. Jeannette D. Hoit
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  3. Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer
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Correspondence to Jeannette D. Hoit.

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Lederle, A., Hoit, J.D. & Barkmeier-Kraemer, J. Effects of Sequential Swallowing on Drive to Breathe in Young, Healthy Adults. Dysphagia 27, 221–227 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-011-9357-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-011-9357-x

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