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Table 2 Analysis of swallowing rate, lip force and VFS immediately after treatment and 12 months post-treatment

From: Oral neuromuscular training in patients with dysphagia after stroke: a prospective, randomized, open-label study with blinded evaluators

Outcome

Control

Within-group differences

Intervention

Within-group differences

Between-groups differences

No. subjects

Median (ranges)

(95% CI)

P value

Median (ranges)

(95% CI)

P value

P value

Control/Intervention

Swallowing ratea

 Baseline

5.1 (0.0–9.5)

  

5.3 (0.0–9.2)

   

20/20

 End of treatment (5 weeks)

9.2 (1.8–13.4)

3.6 (1.0–5.8)

0.001b

10.3 (3.2–18.7)

5.3 (2.2–8.6)

< 0.001b

0.133c

14/18

 12 months post-treatment

8.5 (2.9–10.5)

1.1 (−1.0–6.6)

0.164b

13.7 (5.0–28.3)

9.0 (3.7–13.6)

0.008b

0.032c

9/9

Lip force

 Baseline

14.0 (3.0–31.0)

  

18.5 (7.0–34.0)

   

14/18

 End-of-treatment (5 weeks)

14.0 (6.0–46.0)

2 (−1–10)

0.079

27.0 (11.0–59.0)

7 (3–13)

< 0.001

0.066

14/18

 12 months post-treatment

10.0 (2.0–21.0)

−1 (−3–1)

0.328

31.0 (18.0–51.0)

12 (4–26)

0.008

0.001

9/9

VFS (PAS score)

 Baseline

6 (1–8)

  

3 (1–8)

   

13/18

 End of treatment (5 weeks)

1 (1–8)

0.0 (−6–6)

0.524b

2 (1–8)

0.0 (−2–0)

0.219b

0.999

11/18

 12 months post-treatment

1.5 (1–8)

0.0 (−7–6)

0.276b

2 (1–8)

−0.5 (−3–0)

0.058b

0.912

8/9

  1. Abbreviations: VFS videofluoroscopic evaluation of swallowing, PAS Penetration Aspiration Scale, CI confidence interval, TWST timed water-swallow test
  2. aAccording to TWST. Normal swallowing rate is ≥10 mL/s, whereas a rate < 10 mL/s indicates swallowing dysfunction. An increased rate indicates improvement of swallowing function
  3. bWilcoxon signed-rank test
  4. cMann Whitney U-test