To investigate whether fluoxetine improves poststroke dysphagia and to detect the potential relationship between serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and fluoxetine effects.
Changes in swallowing ability based on the dysphagia severity rating scale (DSRS) were compared between active and sham groups and associated with BDNF SNP status.
The COMT polymorphism rs165599 and the BDNF polymorphism rs10835211 were found to predict dysphagia and have an interactive effect (p = 0.028), which varied according to the carrier status of the other.