Temporal Analysis of Factors Associated with EAT-10 in Outpatients with Oropharyngeal Dysphagia from a Tertiary Care Clinic

The objective of this work was to identify factors (demographics, clinical variables, swallowing physiology, health-related quality of life) associated with longitudinal change in EAT-10 scores in outpatients with oropharyngeal dysphagia at a multi-disciplinary, tertiary care clini c. All patients with swallowing concerns that were included in the UW Madison Voice and Swallowing Outcomes database from 12/2012 to 04/2015 were invited to complete EAT-10 and a general health-related quality of life survey (SF-12v2) at their initial evaluation and six months later. Forty-two pati ents were included in analysis (n = 42). Weaning from a gastrostomy tube was significantly associated with EAT-10 improvement. Approximately 70% of the sample had mild dysphagia, and floor effects were observed for all EAT-10 items in this sample subset. Mean SF-12v2 Physical Component Summary score was substantially lower than t hat of the general population. Significant, weak–moderate correlations were found between EAT-10 and SF-12v2 scores for all comparisons except for Physical Health Composite at six months (rs  = = 0.24 to − 0.43). Weaning from a feeding tube appears to meaningfully improve self-perceived symptoms of dysphagia. Given the floor effects observed, validity of EAT-10 for patients with mild dysphagia should be examined. Future research should address contributors to self-perceived sympto m change across the range of dysphagia severity.
Source: Dysphagia - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research