Attentional resource allocation and swallowing safety in Parkinson’s disease: A dual task study

摘要

BackgroundAspiration pneumonia is a leading cause of death in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Despite this, the mechanisms underlying dysphagia in this population are unclear. To date, researchers have not investigated the effects of varying cognitive demand on objective measures of swallowing safety. This study assessed whether swallowing safety could be disrupted by increasing cognitive demands during the task of swallowing.