The sensitivity and specificity of the Chinese eating assessment tool (EAT-10) for screening oropharyngeal dysphagia in acute stroke patients

Abstract

Objective To study the sensitivity and specificity of the Chinese eating assessment tool (EAT-10) in screening acute stroke patients for oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD). Methods A total of 130 inpatients with acute stroke were screened using the Chinese EAT-10. On the same day they were also screened using the gold stan-dard technique for diagnosing dysphasia—videofluoroscopy. A receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was developed to study EAT-10′s sensitivity and specificity. A Youden index, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and positive and negative likelihood ratios (LHR+ and LHR-) were quantified. Results According to the ROC curve, a cut-off point of 1 (EAT-10 score≥1) gave the best sensitivity (77.9%), the highest NPV (73.2%), with 66.1% specificity, 71.6% PPV, 2.30 LHR+ and 0.33 LHR- in screening for OD. The test-retest reliability was above 0.7. An investigator consistency reliability test showed good repeatability, and the consistency between each item and the mean total score was high. Conclusion The Chinese EAT-10 has good test-retest reliability and investigator consistency. The optimal cut-off point is 1, with good sensitivity and NPV at scores≥1. The test can be recommended as a screening tool for OD in acute stroke patients. Key words: Chinese eating assessment tool; Stroke; Oropharyngeal dysphagia; Dysphagia