"Must be able to swallow saliva '8 times' within 30 seconds"... Difficulty may indicate possible disorder

A study has found that the number of times a person swallows saliva in 30 seconds can predict the likelihood of disease.

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According to the British media outlet Daily Mail, a research team from Kaplan Medical Center in Israel published results in the journal Dysphagia, studying 380 healthy adults aged 20 to 90 to see how many times they could swallow saliva within 30 seconds.

The "repetitive saliva swallowing test" is a method used by doctors to check if a patient is experiencing difficulty swallowing. It measures how many times a person can swallow saliva as many times as possible within 30 seconds without consuming food or drink.

The study found that people aged 20 to 39 could swallow saliva about 8.5 times on average within 30 seconds. Those in their 40s swallowed about 8 times, and those in their 50s about 7.2 times. Additionally, people in their 60s swallowed about 6.7 times, those in their 70s about 6 times, and those aged 80 and above about 4.3 times. By gender, men swallowed more times than women.

According to the UK's National Health Service (NHS), difficulty swallowing saliva is not a disease itself but can be an indicator of other medical issues. It may signal relatively mild conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, or more serious diseases including oral cancer, esophageal cancer, throat cancer, dementia, or lung diseases.

In fact, last month, a patient diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer experienced difficulty swallowing saliva but mistook it as a side effect of weight loss, resulting in a missed opportunity for timely treatment.

However, the researchers noted, "Although participants' health status was collected before the experiment, no separate diagnostic tests were conducted, and the experiment was performed only once. Additionally, information about food and drink consumed before the test was not recorded, which is a limitation." They also explained, "The difference in the number of saliva swallows by age may be due to physiological changes in the throat muscles as people age."