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Quantification of Intraoral Pressures During Nutritive Sucking: Methods with Normal Infants

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Abstract

We report quantitative measurements of ten parameters of nutritive sucking behavior in 91 normal full-term infants obtained using a novel device (an Orometer) and a data collection/analytical system (Suck Editor). The sucking parameters assessed include the number of sucks, mean pressure amplitude of sucks, mean frequency of sucks per second, mean suck interval in seconds, sucking amplitude variability, suck interval variability, number of suck bursts, mean number of sucks per suck burst, mean suck burst duration, and mean interburst gap duration. For analyses, test sessions were divided into 4 × 2-min segments. In single-study tests, 36 of 60 possible comparisons of ten parameters over six pairs of 2-min time intervals showed a p value of 0.05 or less. In 15 paired tests in the same infants at different ages, 33 of 50 possible comparisons of ten parameters over five time intervals showed p values of 0.05 or less. Quantification of nutritive sucking is feasible, showing statistically valid results for ten parameters that change during a feed and with age. These findings suggest that further research, based on our approach, may show clinical value in feeding assessment, diagnosis, and clinical management.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by an SBIR grant (No. R43 HD-38234) to Metabolic Nutritionals from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Conflict of interest

N. Buist and S. Buckley jointly hold a patent for the Orometer. It has not been assigned to any company.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN, USA

    William Christopher Lang

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University, 8510 SW White Pine Lane, Portland, OR, 97225-2442, USA

    Neil R. M. Buist

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University, 707 SW Gaines Road, Portland, OR, 97239, USA

    Annmarie Geary, Scott Buckley, Elizabeth Adams, Stephen Gorsek, Hanh Tran & Brian R. Rogers

  4. Department of Mathematics, Reed College, Portland, OR, USA

    Albyn C. Jones

  5. Children’s Hospital of Central California, Madera, CA, USA

    Susan C. Winter

Authors
  1. William Christopher Lang
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  2. Neil R. M. Buist
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  3. Annmarie Geary
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  4. Scott Buckley
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  5. Elizabeth Adams
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  8. Susan C. Winter
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  9. Hanh Tran
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  10. Brian R. Rogers
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Correspondence to Neil R. M. Buist.

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Lang, W.C., Buist, N.R.M., Geary, A. et al. Quantification of Intraoral Pressures During Nutritive Sucking: Methods with Normal Infants. Dysphagia 26, 277–286 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-010-9305-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-010-9305-1

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