title: Reliability and validity of the Italian Eating Assessment Tool.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Italian EAT-10 (Italian Eating Assessment Tool; I-EAT-10).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study consisted of 4 phases: item generation, internal consistency and reliability analysis, normative data generation, and validity analysis. Discussion of the EAT-10 with 30 patients and its back-translation were accomplished. The recruited population included 172 patients (40 with dysphonia and 132 with dysphagia) and 269 asymptomatic subjects for testing of internal consistency, and 94 patients with dysphagia and 158 asymptomatic subjects for test-retest reliability analysis. Normative data were gathered from the 269 subjects. The scores of patients and asymptomatic subjects were compared. The I-EAT-10 and flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) scores in 94 patients were correlated. The I-EAT-10 scores made before and after successful swallowing rehabilitation in 38 patients were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha values of 0.90 and 0.93) and strong test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.95 and 0.98) were found in patients and asymptomatic subjects. The I-EAT-10 mean (+/- SD) score of the normal cohort was 0.6 +/- 1.1. The asymptomatic subjects and dysphonic patients scored lower than the dysphagic patients on the Kruskal-Wallis test (p = 0.001). The I-EAT-10 and FEES scores were mildly correlated. The mean I-EAT-10 score improved from 9.8 +/- 10.3 to 5.8 +/- 6.7 after swallowing rehabilitation (p = 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The I-EAT-10 is a reliable, valid, symptom-specific outcome tool.
authors.affiliation: L. Sacco Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy. antonio.schindler@unimi.it
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schindler
authors.affiliation: L. Sacco Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mozzanica
authors.affiliation: L. Sacco Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monzani
authors.affiliation: L. Sacco Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ceriani
authors.affiliation: L. Sacco Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Atac
authors.affiliation: Unit of Nutritional Therapy, INRCA-IRCCS, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Nikolina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jukic-Peladic
authors.affiliation: Società Italiana di Nutrizione Artificiale e Metabolismo, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Venturini
authors.affiliation: Società Italiana di Nutrizione Artificiale e Metabolismo, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Orlandoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003679:Deglutition / Q000502:physiology*; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires