title: Practical Assessment of Dysphagia in Stroke Patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a quantitative and organ-specific practical test for the diagnosis and treatment of dysphagia based on assessment of stroke patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  An initial test composed of 24 items was designed to evaluate the function of the organs involved in swallowing. The grading system of the initial test was based on the analysis of 50 normal adults. The initial test was performed in 52 stroke patients with clinical symptoms of dysphagia. Aspiration was measured via a videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS). The odds ratio was obtained to evaluate the correlation between each item in the initial test and the VFSS. A polychotomous linear logistic model was used to select the final test items.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen of 24 initial items were selected as significant for the final tests. These 18 showed high initial validity and reliability. The Spearman correlation coefficient for the total score of the test and functional dysphagia scale was 0.96 (p<0.001), indicating a statistically significant positive correlation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study was carried out to design a quantitative and organ-specific test that assesses the causes of dysphagia in stroke patients; therefore, this test is considered very useful and highly applicable to the diagnosis and treatment of dysphagia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyoung Moo
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyo Jong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Deglutition; Deglutition diorder; Respiratory aspiration; Risk assessment; Stroke