Recommendations of good practice to prevent aspiration pneumonia in older adults at risk of oropharyngeal dysphagia living in nursing homes: A modified e-Delphi study protocol.

Background: Aspiration pneumonia (AP) is a subset of pneumonia caused by the aspiration of food and fluids to the lungs and is highly prevalent in the older population. Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is one of the risk factors for AP and it is also associated with malnutrition, dehydration and poor functional outcomes. As pneumonia is the second most common infection in nursing homes (NHs) and OD represents a major concern to NH staff, good practices for the prevention of AP in older adults at risk of OD are needed.

Interventions to Prevent Aspiration Pneumonia in Older Adults: An Updated Systematic Review.

Purpose The aim of the study was to provide an updated systematic review of randomized controlled trials that studied the effectiveness of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions to prevent aspiration pneumonia in older adults at risk for aspiration. Method The search was conducted in MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, and Web of Science databases and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, using a protocol registered on PROSPERO (CRD42019139973). Randomized controlled trials of interventions to reduce the incidence of aspiration pneumonia in individuals older than 65 years at risk for aspiration, published between January 2002 and July 2019 and written in English, were included.