正常吞咽是一系列复杂协调的神经肌肉运动过程,受大脑支配,需口、咽、食管共同参与,其中任何一个部位的机能障碍均可导致误吸。老年人随着年龄的增长,其咽喉黏膜萎缩、变薄,咽喉感觉功能减退,这样容易使得老年人发生吞咽障碍,且易使食物、口水呛入呼吸道而引起误吸。由于老年咽喉感觉与运动功能减退,在某些原因造成吞咽肌肉及神经病变时,病人误吸率将大大提高。常见的疾病包括头部外伤、脑血管意外、糖尿病并发脑血管及神经病变、呼吸道感染、颅脑肿瘤等,都有可能因呛咳或吞咽困难而引起误吸。一旦误吸,其主要危险是室息和吸入性肺炎,尤其是后者在老年人 Normal swallowing is a series of complex and coordinated neuromuscular exercise, the brain at the disposal of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus to participate, any one of the parts of the dysfunction can lead to aspiration. The elderly with age, the throat mucosa atrophy, thinning, throat feel dysfunction, so easy to make the elderly swallowing disorders, and easy to make food, saliva choking into the respiratory tract and cause aspiration. As senile throat feel and motor function decline, in some cases caused swallowing muscle and neuropathy, the patient aspiration rate will be greatly increased. Common diseases include head trauma, cerebrovascular accident, diabetes complicated with cerebrovascular and neuropathies, respiratory infections, brain tumors, etc., are likely to cause aspiration or difficulty swallowing caused by aspiration. Once aspirated, the main risks are room-borne and aspiration pneumonia, especially in the elderly