Accuracy of an epidemiological oropharyngeal dysphagia screening for older adults

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of an epidemiological screening questionnaire for oropharyngeal dysphagia in older people. Background Determining the cut‐off point and the accuracy of the self‐reported epidemiological questionnaire for screening oropharyngeal dysphagia in older adults is important for mass screening, which may estimate the prevalence of oropharyngeal dysphagia. Materials and Methods This was a cross‐sectional diagnostic study with a convenience sample of 70 older adults over 60 years of age of both sexes, aged between 60 and 90 years (mean age 69.2; SD, 7.6). It used a screening questionnaire with nine ordered items response options resulted in a score ranging from 0 to 18. The criterion test was the fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, with analysis of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC), with a 5% significance level. Results Oropharyngeal dysphagia frequency by the criterion test was 73%, with no significant difference between age and sex. The area under the ROC curve was 0.88 (95% confidence interval: 0.79‐0.98) above the cut‐off point 3. This screening questionnaire showed good parameters of sensitivity (80%), specificity (89%), positive predictive value (95%), negative predictive value (63%), positive likelihood ratio (7.64), negative likelihood ratio (0.22) and accuracy (83%). Conclusions This questionnaire may be a satisfactory screening tool for estimating the prevalence of oropharyngeal dysphagia in older adults.

Dysphagia in Ischaemic Stroke Patients: One Centre Retrospective Study

“…Many sources indicate that the risk of dysphagia increases with age, affecting up to 40% of people over 60 years old [ 4 ]. Other studies suggest that the risk may be as high as 73% [ 5 ].…”