Water jelly aids in both rehabilitation, prevention of aspiration pneumonia

In elderly patients with moderate-to-severe dysphagia, ingestion of water jelly effectively rehabilitates and manages aspiration pneumonia, a study reports.

The study included two patient cohorts. The first was composed of 36 consecutive patients with borderline ingestion in an endoscopic swallowing evaluation (mean age, 82 years; 18 men) who were assigned to either undergo water jelly (50–100 mL) ingestion training thrice a day or an untrained control group. The effect of the intervention was evaluated using the Food Intake Level Scale.

Three of the 12 patients in the intervention group were able to eat a pureed diet (level 5, two patients; level 6, one patient). On the other hand, none of the 24 patients in the control group were able to eat any form of diet (25 percent vs 0 percent; p=0.011).

In the second cohort, 64 consecutive patients (mean age, 81 years; 35 men) who were hospitalized due to aspiration pneumonia were likewise assigned the group instructed to undergo cyclic ingestion of water jelly immediately after each meal or a control group. The efficacy outcome was new-onset aspiration pneumonia during hospitalization.

The outcome occurred in none of the 34 patients in the intervention group versus five of the 30 patients in the control group (0 percent vs 17 percent; p=0.031).