Abstract
It is well known that eating problems occur in association with cognitive dysfunction, psychiatric problems, and decline of daily activity in individuals with dementia. Feeding and eating difficulties leading to weight loss are common in the advanced stages of dementia. In contrast to the wealth of information on advanced dementia, relatively few studies have addressed the eating problems in mild dementia and disease-specific behaviors. As the disease progresses, patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have difficulty swallowing due to sensory impairment secondary to dysfunctions in the temporoparietal areas. Vascular dementia patients showed more deficits in bolus formation and mastication of semisolid food, hyolaryngeal excursion, epiglottic inversion, and silent aspiration caused by motor impairments due to disruptions in the corticobulbar tract. The frequencies of appetite change, alterations in food preference toward sweet foods and changed eating habits, are greater in Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) than in AD. Appetite increase in FTLD seem to be exacerbated by cultural factors in Western countries. Dementia with Lewy bodies patients showed a higher incidence of swallowing problems and anorexia than AD patients.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Holm B, Söderhamn O. Factors associated with nutritional status in a group of people in an early stage of dementia. Clin Nutr. 2003;22:385–9.
Correia Sde M, Morillo LS, Jacob Filho W, Mansur LL. Swallowing in moderate and severe phases of Alzheimer’s disease. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2010;68:855–61.
Alzheimer’s Society. Food for thought. London: Alzheimer’s Society; 2000.
Mitchell SL, Teno JM, Kiely DK, et al. The clinical course of advanced dementia. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:1529–38.
Pasman HR, The BA, Onwuteaka-Philipsen BD, et al. Feeding nursing home patients with severe dementia: a qualitative study. J Adv Nurs. 2003;42:304–11.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2002. http://faostat.fao.org/.
Bozeat S, Gregory CA, Lambon Ralph MA, et al. Which neuropsychiatric and behavioural features distinguish frontal and temporal variants of Frontotemporal dementia from Alzheimer’s disease? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2000;69:178–86.
Ikeda M, Brown J, Holland AJ, et al. Changes in appetite, food preference, and eating habits in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2002;73:371–6.
Shinagawa S, Adachi H, Toyota Y, et al. Characteristics of eating and swallowing problems in patients who have dementia with Lewy bodies. Int Psychogeriatr. 2009;21:520–5.
Suh MK, Kim H, Na DL. Dysphagia in patients with dementia: Alzheimer versus vascular. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2009;23:178–84.
Humbert IA, McLaren DG, Kosmatka K, et al. Early deficits in cortical control of swallowing in Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2010;19:1185–97.
Wada H, Nakajoh K, Satoh-Nakagawa T, et al. Risk factors of aspiration pneumonia in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Gerontology. 2001;47:271–6.
Kalia M. Dysphagia and aspiration pneumonia in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Metabolism. 2003;52 Suppl 2:36–8.
Chouinard J. Dysphagia in Alzheimer disease: a review. J Nutr Health Aging. 2000;4:214–7.
Ismail Z, Herrmann N, Rothenburg LS, et al. A functional neuroimaging study of appetite loss in Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurol Sci. 2008;271:97–103.
Buchman AS, Wilson RS, Bienias JL, et al. Change in body mass index and risk of incident Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2005;65:892–7.
Gorospe EC, Dave J. The risk of dementia with increased body mass index. Age Ageing. 2007;36:23–9.
Gao S, Nguyen JT, Hendrie HC, et al. Accelerated weight loss and incident dementia in an elderly African–American cohort. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011;59:18–25.
Stewart R, Masaki K, Xue QL, et al. A 32-year prospective study of change in body weight and incident dementia: the Honolulu-Asia aging study. Arch Neurol. 2005;62:55–60.
Buchman AS, Schneider JA, Wilson RS, et al. Body mass index in older persons is associated with Alzheimer disease pathology. Neurology. 2006;12(67):1949–54.
Kumlien S, Axelsson K. Stroke patients in nursing homes: eating, feeding, nutrition and related care. J Clin Nurs. 2002;11:498–509.
Burnett TA, Mann EA, Cornell SA, et al. Laryngeal elevation achieved by neuromuscular stimulation at rest. J Appl Physiol. 2003;94:128–34.
Snowden JS, Bathgate D, Varma A, et al. Distinct behavioural profiles in frontotemporal dementia and semantic dementia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2001;70:323–32.
Mendez MF, Licht EA, Shapira JS. Changes in dietary or eating behavior in frontotemporal dementia versus Alzheimer’s disease. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2008;23:280–5.
Woolley JD, Gorno-Tempini ML, Seeley WW, et al. Binge eating is associated with right orbitofrontal-insular-striatal atrophy in frontotemporal dementia. Neurology. 2007;69:1424–33.
Whitwell JL, Sampson EL, Loy CT, et al. VBM signatures of abnormal eating behaviours in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Neuroimage. 2007;35:207–13.
Langmore SE, Olney RK, Lomen-Hoerth C, Miller BL. Dysphagia in patients with frontotemporal lobar dementia. Arch Neurol. 2007;64:58–62.
Grasbeck A, Englund E, Horstmann V, et al. Predictors of mortality in frontotemporal dementia: a retrospective study of the prognostic influence of pre-diagnostic features. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2003;18:594–601.
Lillo P, Garcin B, Hornberger M, et al. Neurobehavioral features in frontotemporal dementia with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Arch Neurol. 2010;67:826–30.
Shinagawa S, Ikeda M, Nestor PJ, et al. Characteristics of abnormal eating behaviours in frontotemporal lobar degeneration: a cross-cultural survey. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2009;80:1413–4.
Piguet O, Petersén A, Yin Ka Lam B, et al. Eating and hypothalamus changes in behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia. Ann Neurol. 2011;69:312–9.
McKeith IG. Consensus guidelines for the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB): report of the consortium on DLB international workshop. J Alzheimers Dis. 2006;9 Suppl 3:417–23.
McKeith IG, Dickson J, Lowe M, et al. Diagnosis and management of dementia with Lewy bodies third report of the DLB consortium. Neurology. 2005;65:1863–72.
Thaisetthawatkul P, Boeve BF, Benarroch EE, et al. Autonomic dysfunction in dementia with Lewy bodies. Neurology. 2004;62:1804–9.
Horimoto Y, Matsumoto M, Akatsu H, et al. Autonomic dysfunctions in dementia with Lewy bodies. J Neurol. 2003;250:530–3.
Yamamoto T, Kobayashi Y, Murata M. Risk of pneumonia onset and discontinuation of oral intake following videofluorography in patients with Lewy body disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2010;16:503–6.
Kindell J. Feeding and swallowing disorders in dementia. UK: Speechmark Publishing Ltd; 2002.
Mamhidir AG, Karlsson I, Norberg A, Mona K. Weight increase in patients with dementia, and alteration in meal routines and meal environment after integrity promoting care. J Clin Nurs. 2007;16:987–96.
Ikeda M, Shigenobu K, Fukuhara R, et al. Efficacy of fluvoxamine as a treatment for behavioral symptoms in FTLD patients. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2004;17:117–21.
Lebert F, Stekke W, Hasenbroekx C, et al. Frontotemporal dementia: a randomized controlled trial with trazodone. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2004;17:355–9.
Acknowledgments
The present study was undertaken with the support of grants provided by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (Research on dementia) and by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Grant no. 23591718) for MI.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ikeda, M., Hodges, J. (2013). Disorders of Appetite, Eating, and Swallowing in the Dementias. In: Shaker, R., Belafsky, P., Postma, G., Easterling, C. (eds) Principles of Deglutition. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3794-9_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3794-9_28
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3793-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3794-9
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)