{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T20:05:46Z","timestamp":1789157146652,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,18]],"date-time":"2023-10-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1697587200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Patients recovering from mild coronavirus disease (COVID-19) reportedly have dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing. We compared the prevalence of dysphagia between patients diagnosed with mild COVID-19 and those diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia alone. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from January 2020 to June 2023 in 160 patients referred for a videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) to assess for dysphagia. The cohort included 24 patients with mild COVID-19 and aspiration pneumonia, 30 with mild COVID-19 without aspiration pneumonia, and 106 with aspiration pneumonia alone. We reviewed the demographic data, comorbidities, and VFSS results using the penetration\u2013aspiration scale (PAS) and functional dysphagia scale (FDS). Results: In a study comparing patients with mild COVID-19 (Group A) and those with aspiration pneumonia alone (Group B), no significant differences were observed in the baseline characteristics, including the prevalence of dysphagia-related comorbidities between the groups. Group A showed milder dysphagia, as evidenced by lower PAS and FDS scores, shorter oral and pharyngeal transit times (p = 0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively), and fewer residues in the vallecula and pyriform sinuses (p &lt; 0.001 and p &lt; 0.03, respectively). When Group A was subdivided into those with COVID-19 with (Group A1) and without aspiration pneumonia (Group A2), both subgroups outperformed Group B in terms of specific VFSS metrics, such as oral transit time (p = 0.01), pharyngeal transit time (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02, respectively), and residue in the vallecula (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02, respectively). However, Group B showed improved triggering of the pharyngeal swallowing reflex compared with Group A2 (p = 0.02). Conclusion: Mild COVID-19 patients showed less severe dysphagia than those with aspiration pneumonia alone. This finding was consistent across VFSS parameters, even when the COVID-19 group was subdivided based on the status of aspiration pneumonia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina59101851","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,18]],"date-time":"2023-10-18T09:55:06Z","timestamp":1697622906000},"page":"1851","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Comparative Analysis of the Prevalence of Dysphagia in Patients with Mild COVID-19 and Those with Aspiration Pneumonia Alone: Findings of the Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"59","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0439-9755","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Junhyung","family":"Kim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sahmyook Medical Center, Seoul 02500, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0109-9885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Byungju","family":"Ryu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sahmyook Medical Center, Seoul 02500, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1629-9310","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yunhee","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sahmyook Medical Center, Seoul 02500, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-3702-8837","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yireh","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sahmyook Medical Center, Seoul 02500, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2260-6751","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eunyoung","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sahmyook Medical Center, Seoul 02500, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1730","DOI":"10.1111\/all.14238","article-title":"Clinical characteristics of 140 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China","volume":"75","author":"Zhang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Allergy"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2023, August 30). 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