The Dysphagia Short Questionnaire

Abstract

Prospective clinical validation study of questionnaire to assess dysphagia. To test validity and reliability of Dysphagia Short Questionnaire (DSQ), and also to determine levels of dysphagia over time after anterior cervical spine surgery (ACSS). Dysphagia is common after ACSS but reports on the incidence vary widely between 1% and 79%, indicating an evaluation problem. Several tools for evaluation of dysphagia exist but common features are that they are cumbersome to use and usually are designed for patients with neurological or malignant diseases in the neck region. Others are not validated, for example, the Bazaz score. There is, thus, a need for a more adapted tool to evaluate dysphagia in patients undergoing ACSS. The DSQ was constructed in collaboration with a group of ear-nose-and-throat specialists. In a first validation study, 45 patients with stationary dysphagia for various reasons completed the DSQ twice 2 weeks apart, the M.D. Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI), the Bazaz score, and a quality-of-life score, the EQ-5D. To evaluate the utility of the DSQ, a second validation study was performed, where 111 subjects undergoing ACSS for degenerative disk disease completed the form preoperatively and at 4 weeks, 3 months, and 1 year after surgery. In the first study, the DSQ correlated to MDADI (r = 0.59) and showed good reproducibility. The Bazaz score did not correlate to the DSQ, the MDADI, or the EQ-5 D. In the second study, dysphagia was present in a few patients already preoperatively. At 4 weeks, 85% of the patients reported dysphagia. The level had dropped significantly at 3 months and had returned to baseline levels at 1 year. We consider the DSQ to be a validated tool for the assessment of dysphagia in ACSS patients. Dysphagia after ACSS for cervical spondylosis is common but the symptoms on a group level are not very severe and are also temporary.