Background: Aspiration pneumonia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in Parkinson�s disease (PD).\nClinical characteristics of PD patients in addition to specific alterations in swallowing mechanisms contribute to\nhigher swallowing times and impairment in the effective clearance of the airway. These issues may render patients\nmore prone to dysphagia and aspiration events. We aimed to determine the frequency of aspiration events in a\nhospitalized PD cohort, and to report the number of in-hospital swallow evaluations.\nMethods: A retrospective single center chart review of 212 PD patients who had 339 hospital encounters was\nperformed from January 2011 to March 2013. Demographics, clinical characteristics, and reasons for encounters\nwere documented. The number of in-hospital aspiration events and the number of swallowing evaluations and\nalso the implementation of aspiration precautions were recorded.\nResults: The cohort had a mean age of 74.1 (SD = 10.1) years with mean disease duration of 6 (SD = 6.3) years.\nFifty-two hospital encounters (15.3 %) were related to a pulmonary cause. In-hospital aspiration pneumonia events\nwere reported in 8 (2.4 %) of the total encounters. Swallow evaluations were performed in 25 % of all cases, and\naspiration precautions were initiated in 32 % of the encounters. The data revealed that 1/8 patient had swallowing\nevaluations performed prior to an aspiration event.\nConclusions: In-hospital aspiration pneumonia events were reported in 2.4 % of the hospitalized PD cohort. Preventive\nmeasures and precautions were not routinely performed, however rates of aspiration were relatively low. The results\nhighlight the need for more research into screening and monitoring of swallowing problems in PD patients during\nhospital encounters
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