Table 2 Number and percentage of cases with impaired swallowing efficiency, swallowing safety, mean subjective difficulty, mean subjective anxiety as well as p value of the Friedman’s-test depending on the oral dosage form and the Bonferroni adjusted p values in the post hoc analysis comparing the different oral dosage forms.
Swallowing parameter | Large capsule | Small capsule | Large tablet | Small tablet | p value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Swallow efficiency, n (%) | 0.002* | ||||
No signs | 56 (84.8%) | 58 (87.9%) | 46 (69.7%) | 48 (72.7%) | |
Mild | 4 (6.1%) | 4 (6.1%) | 11 (16.7%) | 10 (15.2%) | |
Moderate | 6 (9.1%) | 4 (6.1%) | 5 (7.6%) | 4 (6.1%) | |
Severe | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (3.0%) | 1 (1.5%) | |
Very severe | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (3.0%) | 3 (4.6%) | |
Swallow safety, n (%) | 0.653 | ||||
No signs | 48 (72.7%) | 49 (74.2%) | 44 (66.7%) | 46 (69.7%) | |
Mild | 15 (22.7%) | 13 (19.7%) | 17 (25.8%) | 15 (22.7%) | |
Moderate | 3 (4.5%) | 3 (4.5%) | 3 (4.5%) | 4 (6.1%) | |
Severe | 0 (0%) | 1 (1.5%) | 1 (1.5%) | 0 (0%) | |
Very severe | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1.5%) | 1 (1.5%) | |
Subjective difficulty, mean ± SD | 2.1 ± 2.5 | 1.3 ± 2.0 | 2.7 ± 2.7 | 1.7 ± 2.2 | 0.001* |
Subjective anxiety, mean ± SD | 1.0 ± 2.2 | 0.2 ± 0.8 | 0.4 ± 1.2 | 0.2 ± 0.7 | 0.001* |
Oral dosage form comparison (post hoc; p value) | Swallow efficiency | Swallow difficulty | Swallow anxiety | swallow safety | |
Large capsule vs. small capsule | >0.999 | 0.157 | 0.412 | n.a. | |
Large capsule vs. large tablet | 0.726 | 0.591 | >0.999 | n.a. | |
Large capsule vs. small tablet | >0.999 | >0.999 | 0.591 | n.a. | |
Small capsule vs. large tablet | 0.328 | *0.001 | >0.999 | n.a. | |
Small capsule vs. small tablet | 0.634 | >0.999 | >0.999 | n.a. | |
Large tablet vs. small tablet | >0.999 | *0.028 | >0.999 | n.a. |
