Apraxia occurs frequently in patients with dementia. Buccofacial apraxia (BFA) characteristics have been less investigated than limb or speech apraxia. An association between BFA and oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) in old patients with dementia has not yet been explored. We aimed to assess the prevalence of BFA in patients with dementia and evaluate the relationship between BFA, OD, and dementia. We have prospectively included 117 outpatients with dementia referred to a geriatric consultation. Oropharyngeal dysphagia was diagnosed using the volume viscosity swallowing test (V-VST). Buccofacial apraxia was evaluated by miming 7 meaningless gestures. A complementary geriatric assessment of 6-domains completed the evaluation. Buccofacial apraxia was present in 54 (48.6%) patients. Proxies reported OD more frequently in the group of patients with BFA compared to the group without (P = .04). Prevalence of OD assessed with the V-VST was similar between patients with and without apraxia (P = .9). Patients with BFA had a significant lower Mini-Mental State Examination suggesting a more severe cognitive decline (18.1 ± 4.5 vs 15.8 ± 5, P = .01), a lower activities of daily living relative to disabilities (5 ± 0.8 vs 4.3 ± 1.3, P = .001), and had a lower gait speed that indicated frailty (P = .03).In conclusion, our results indicate a relationship between BFA and severity of dementia, disability, and frailty with no significant association between BFA and OD.

失用症经常发生在痴呆患者中。与肢体或言语失用症相比，对颊面失用症 (BFA) 特征的研究较少。老年痴呆症患者中 BFA 与口咽吞咽困难 (OD) 之间的关联尚未得到探索。我们旨在评估痴呆患者中 BFA 的患病率，并评估 BFA、OD 和痴呆之间的关系。我们前瞻性地纳入了 117 名老年痴呆症门诊患者。使用体积粘度吞咽试验（V-VST）诊断口咽部吞咽困难。通过模仿 7 个无意义的手势来评估颊面失用症。对 6 个领域的补充老年评估完成了评估。54 名 (48.6%) 患者存在颊面部失用症。P = .04）。使用 V-VST 评估的 OD 患病率在有和无失用症患者之间相似（P = .9）。BFA 患者的简易精神状态检查显着较低，表明认知能力下降更严重（18.1 ± 4.5 对 15.8 ± 5，P = .01），相对于残疾而言，日常生活活动较少（5 ± 0.8 对 4.3 ± 1.3 , P = .001)，并且具有较低的步态速度表明虚弱 ( P = .03)。 总之，我们的结果表明 BFA 与痴呆、残疾和虚弱的严重程度之间存在关系，而 BFA 和 OD 之间没有显着关联.