International Research Journal of Otolaryngology

Introduction: Respiratory tract diseases are among the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the elderly and often increase metabolic demand, with a negative impact on nutritional status (NS). Objective: To verify the NS of the elderly with respiratory diseases and their association with the diagnosis. Methodology: a retrospective study was carried out based on the collection of demographic, clinical and nutritional data from the records of elderly patients admitted with respiratory pathologies from February to July 2017 in the medical clinic. In the nutritional evaluation we considered: body mass index (BMI) classified according to Lipschitz (1994), the percentage of adequacy of arm circumference (AM) and calf circumference (CC). Kolmogorov-Sminorv test was used to verify normality and Pearson chi-square test to verify association between variables, with 95% confidence. The SPSS version 13.0 program was used. Results and Discussion: a sample of 24 elderly people, mean age of 74.56 ± 8.89 years, with 62.5% female. The common pathologies were respiratory tract infection (54.2%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (20.8%), pulmonary tuberculosis (12.5%) and pneumonia (12.5%). 50% were malnourished according to BMI, the mean BMI being 22.9 ± 5.82 kg / m2; 66.7% according to the AM and 70.8% according to the CC. The prevalence of eutrophic and overweight by BMI was 29.2% and 20.8%, respectively; 20.8% were eutrophic for the AM and 12.5% were overweight and obese. There was no significant association between diagnosis and nutritional indicators (p> 0.05). Respiratory tract infections are the main causes of hospitalization in this population, corroborating the literature. The prevalence of malnutrition found may suggest that elderly people with nutritional depletion are responsible for the greater number of hospitalizations. Conclusion: there was a higher prevalence of malnutrition, demonstrating the need for early intervention in order to contribute to clinical improvement and avoid worsening of nutritional status.

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea is a multifactorial case that may involve craniofacial development, bone structures, muscular structures and any soft tissue adjacent to the pharynx have importance to this disorder. It is characterized by recurrent episodes of upper airway obstruction. In Brazil the prevalence is 10% to 17% of the population. Recognized as a risk factor for systemic arterial hypertension, stroke and coronary heart disease. For diagnosis, the main exam is the polysomnography. For the evaluation of the efficacy of the therapies, such as the intraoral device, different exams have been proposed in the literature: computed tomography in sagittal, parasagittal, coronal sections, 3D reconstructions, cephalometry and nasolaringopharyngoscopy video. Objective: The aim of this paper is provide to professionals who work with sleep apnea, a less invasive solution to prove the efficacy of the therapies used. Methodology: The paper is a literature review to evaluate the results of nasolaringopharyngoscopy in patients undergoing treatment with intraoral device for sleep apnea without and during the use of the device to evaluate the opening of the larynx and pharynx. During the wake-up examination, the patient should undergo the Müller’s maneuver, which consists of deep breathing and maintaining inspiration by obstructing the upper airways, with room for the instrument only. Results and Discussion: It demonstrated that it is possible to do the examination, even if the patient is with the device. There is pronounced distinctness in this exam, which allows to accurately evaluate the clearance with or without devices, if it is well adapted. As a disadvantage, airway measurements are not accurate as on a CT scan. Conclusion: The nasolaringopharyngoscopy video is effective for qualitative analysis of the device use, but does not support in a quantitative analysis on the airways.