Dysphagia in pediatric intensive care unit patients (review)

Abstract

The known negative consequences of intensive care unit stays, summarized as the post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) and including swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are also encountered in pediatric practice.Materials and methods. The non-systematic review of literature sources was carried out. Domestic publications were searched in the database on the elibrary website, foreign publications – in PubMed, Google Scholar, Cichrane Library, Cyberleninka, ResearchGate databases in the period of 1990–2023. When analyzed for the query «Dysphagia in Children», 1,496 results were found, «Post-intensive care syndrome in children» – 82 results. We analyzed 142 full-text publications describing the causes, mechanisms, and clinical presentation of dysphagia in children whose swallowing disorders occurred after hospitalization in intensive care units or were associated with severe somatic diseases.Results. The review analyzes the causes, features of diagnosis and treatment of dysphagia in pediatric patients with PIСS. 5 groups of causes in the structure of PIСS that can lead to the development of dysphagia were considered: infectious-trophic, vegetative-metabolic, neuromuscular, emotional-cognitivecomplications and decreased quality of life compared to the premorbid level. Complications associated with the development of dysphagia lead to increased length of stay in intensive care and hospitalization, lead to the development of malnutrition, aspiration pneumonia and other complications. The mechanisms of dysphagia development in children in intensive care units were analyzed. The main ways of dysphagia progression in pediatric practice are determined.Conclusion. Clarification of the causes and understanding of the mechanisms of dysphagia development in conjunction with the implementation of rehabilitation programs can contribute to the improvement of clinical outcomes in children who have undergone a critical condition in the immediate post-discharge period and in the future.