Background: Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients seriously influence the long-term prognosis of COPD patients. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors of OD in patients with COPD through a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
Methods: We identified all observational studies on the prevalence of OD in COPD patients by searching PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the China Biomedical Literature Service System (CBM), the Wanfang Database, and the WeiPu (VIP) databases from database establishment to 1 December 2020.
Results: Results of the meta-analysis showed that the prevalence of OD in COPD patients was 32.7% (95%CI=30.1, 35.4, I2=91.5%). Dyspnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD), xerostomia, sputum bacteria, poor physical capacity, poor quality of life, and high CRP level are the risk factors for OD in COPD patients.
Conclusion: : The prevalence of OD in COPD patients is high. There were some differences in OD among COPD patients with different sex, ages, continents, evaluation methods, patient source and COPD exacerbation.
Keywords: COPD; oropharyngeal dysphagia; prevalence; risk factors; systematic review.