Bedside screening to detect oropharyngeal dysphagia in patients with neurological disorders: an updated systematic review

Dysphagia. 2014 Apr;29(2):204-12. doi: 10.1007/s00455-013-9490-9. Epub 2013 Sep 13.

Abstract

Oropharyngeal dysphagia is a highly prevalent comorbidity in neurological patients and presents a serious health threat, which may le to outcomes of aspiration pneumonia ranging from hospitalization to death. Therefore, an early identification of risk followed by an accurate diagnosis of oropharyngeal dysphagia is fundamental. This systematic review provides an update of currently available bedside screenings to identify oropharyngeal dysphagia in neurological patients. An electronic search was carried out in the databases PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsychInfo (formerly PsychLit), and all hits from 2008 up to December 2012 were included in the review. Only studies with sufficient methodological quality were considered, after which the psychometric characteristics of the screening tools were determined. Two relevant bedside screenings were identified, with a minimum sensitivity and specificity of ≥70 and ≥60 %, respectively.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Deglutition / physiology*
  • Deglutition Disorders* / diagnosis
  • Deglutition Disorders* / etiology
  • Deglutition Disorders* / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Nervous System Diseases / complications*
  • Nervous System Diseases / physiopathology
  • Point-of-Care Systems*
  • Psychometrics / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results