Screening tools for dysphagia: a systematic review.
OBJECTIVE
To perform a systematic review of screening instruments for dysphagia available in the literature.


METHODS
For the selection of studies, the following descriptors were used: "questionários", "questionnaires", "transtornos de deglutição", "deglutition disorders", "programas de rastreamento", and "mass screening". The online databases used for the research were Virtual Health Library (LILACS, IBECS, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, SciELO) and PubMed. The research was performed from April to June 2013. Selection criteria articles in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, regardless of the year of publication, whose title, abstract, or text had any relation to the purpose of the research. After reading the articles in their entirety, identification data and method of the articles were extracted for later analysis.


RESULTS
The research carried out from the proposed descriptors produced 1,012 articles. After reviewing the titles, summaries, and fully reading the articles, 20 studies were chosen. The publications on instruments for the identification of dysphagic patients started in 1999, and 50% of the analyzed studies were carried out in the USA. The methods used on the instruments were questionnaires, observation of patient's clinical signals and symptoms, the request for execution of some orofacial movements, and swallowing test with water or food.


CONCLUSIONS
Screening instruments in dysphagia are fairly heterogeneous and have been developed for different audiences with the main objective of identifying patients with swallowing disorders.
Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Camila Lucia
CL
Etges
Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Betina
B
Scheeren
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Erissandra
E
Gomes
Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Lisiane De Rosa
Lde R
Barbosa
D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires