Clinical Indicators of Impaired Swallowing in Children with Neurological Disorders.

Objective: To investigate the clinical indicators of the nursing diagnosis impaired swallowing in children with neurological disorders.

Methods: An integrative review was performed on the Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Lilacs and Cinahl databases; by crossing the terms impaired degluition, dyphagia, deglutition disorders, cerebral palsy, microcephaly, which resulted in 45 articles.

Results: Eighteen indicators were identified in the oral phase, ten in the pharyngeal phase, and nine in the esophageal phase. There was a percentage of 80.4% of the indicators cited in NANDA-International, especially those referring to the oral phase.

Conclusions: There are clinical indicators in both phases of impaired swallowing in children with neurological dysfunctions presenting heterogeneous distribution.