Dysphagia in infective and non-infective exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a retrospective cohort study

Objective

Infection and sepsis have been identified as potential risk factors for dysphagia in hospitalised patients, but their contribution relative to that of respiratory dysfunction is unclear. We used acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a clinical model to test whether infection is independently associated with dysphagia.

Methods