Validation of the Spanish Version of the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10spa) in Colombia. A Blinded Prospective Cohort Study.

Dysphagia might affect 12 % of the general population, and its complications include pneumonia, malnutrition, social isolation, and death. No validated Spanish symptom survey exists to quantify dysphagia symptoms among Latin Americans. Therefore, we performed a prospective cohort study in a tertiary care university hospital to validate the Spanish version of the 10-Item Eating-Assessment-Tool (EAT-10spa) for use in Colombia. After an interdisciplinary committee of five bilingual specialists evaluated the EAT-10spa (translated and validated in Spain) and deemed it appropriate for the Colombian culture, its feasibility, reliability, validity, sensitivity to change, and diagnostic capacity were evaluated. As a reference standard, we used the flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing with sensory testing and a standardized clinical evaluation. All assessments were blinded. In total, 133 subjects were included (52 % women, mean age 55 years) and completed the EAT-10spa (median completion time: 2 min [IQR 1-3 min]), 39 % of whom had an elementary-level education. Cronbach's α coefficient: 0.91; test-retest intra-class correlation coefficient: 0.94. The Spearman's correlation coefficient of the EAT-10spa with the 8-point penetration-aspiration scale was 0.54 (P < 0.001). The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic-curve (AUC-ROC) for dysphagia and aspiration were 0.79 (P < 0.001) and 0.81 (P < 0.001), respectively. The best cut-off points for dysphagia and aspiration were EAT-10spa ≥2 (sensitivity 93.6 %, specificity 36.4 %) and EAT-10spa ≥4 (sensitivity 94.3 %, specificity 49.5 %), respectively. A reduction in the EAT-10 ≥3 was the best cut-off point for a clinically significant improvement (AUC-ROC 0.83; P < 0.0001). The EAT-10spa showed excellent psychometric properties and discriminatory capacity for use in Colombia.

Escalas de calidad de vida y valoración de los síntomas en disfagia / Scales of quality of life and assessment of symptoms in dysphagia / Escalas de qualidade de vida e avaliação dos síntomas em disfagia

La disfagia es un síntoma que tiene repercusiones en la calidad de vida de cualquier individuo que la padezca. Asimismo puede asociarse a varias complicaciones respiratorias y nutricionales que van a impactar en los diferentes ámbitos psicosociales. Por esta razón se han establecido parámetros para evaluar la calidad de vida de los pacientes con este diagnóstico. Por otro lado es importante reconocer los síntomas que caracterizan la disfagia para que ésta sea detectada de manera oportuna por el personal de salud. Es por ello que también se han desarrollado escalas para este fin. Las escalas de calidad de vida y de evaluación de síntomas son instrumentos de evaluación importantes porque proporcionan información valiosa al médico tratante acerca de la percepción del estado de salud actual del paciente, los síntomas clave y los efectos de la intervención terapéutica. En este trabajo se describen las características y propiedades psicométricas de los instrumentos existentes para la evaluación de la calidad de vida y la valoración de los síntomas de los pacientes con disfagia.

Dysphagia it is a symptom with repercussions in life quality of any individual who suffer it. In the same way, it could be related to many respiratory and nutritional complications that will have an impact in different psychosocial aspects. For this reason it has been established parameters in order to evaluate the life quality of the patients with this condition. On the other hand, it is important to recognize the characteristic symptoms of dysphagia in order to be detected appropriately by the health community, for which reason has been also the development of scales. The life quality scales and the evaluation of symptoms are important instruments because provides valuable information to the doctor in charge about the perception of the current health condition of the patients, the key symptoms and the effects of a therapeutic intervention. In this paper we describe the characteristics and psychometric properties of the instruments available to the evaluation of life quality and the assessment of the symptoms of the patients with dysphagia.

A disfagia é um sintoma que tem repercussão na qualidade da vida de qualquer pessoa que sofra dela. Assim mesmo pode estar associada com algumas complicações respiratórias y nutricionais que impactaram nos diferentes âmbitos psicossociais. Por essa ração estabeleceram-se parâmetros para avaliar a qualidade de vida dos pacientes com esse diagnóstico. Por outro lado é importante reconhecer os sintomas que caracterizam a disfagia para que esta seja detectada de maneira oportuna pelo equipe de saúde. É por ele que também se tem desenvolvido escalas para isso. As escalas de qualidade de vida e de evacuação de sintomas são instrumentos de avaliação importantes por que dão informação valiosa ao médico encargado da percepção do estado de saúde do paciente, os sintomas chaves e os efeitos da intervenção terapêutica. Este paper descreve as características e propriedades psicométricas dos instrumentos para avaliação da qualidade da vida e valoração dos sintomas dos pacientes com disfagia.