Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the presence of dysphagia and its impact in the quality of life of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), correlating the staging, severity of dysphagia and self-assessment of dysphagia risk. Methods: An observational and cross-sectional study evaluating 24 patients with PD through the Hoenh and Yahr motor symptoms scale, the endoscopic swallowing assessment (VED), and the quality of life questionnaire (The 39 item Parkinson´s Disease Question - PDQ-39) and a self-assessment tool for risk assessment of dysphagia and aspiration (EAT-10). Results: In VED, 87.5% of the patients presented dysphagia, with severity regardless of the motor severity of the disease. There was no significance between dysphagia severity and dysphagia and aspiration self-assessment. In PDQ-39, there was a worse perception of quality of life as the disease progressed (p = 0.003), with significance in the domain of cognition in severe dysphagic patients. Conclusion: dysphagia is a common symptom independent of the motor severity of PD, and should be investigated and rehabilitated by a multidisciplinary team early in order to reduce the impact on the quality of life of these patients.