Does the Hebrew Eating Assessment Tool-10 Correlate with Pharyngeal Residue, Penetration and Aspiration on Fiberoptic Endoscopic Examination of Swallowing?

The Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10) is a 10-item patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) for dysphagia patients. The objective of this study was to translate and validate the EAT-10 Heb and to test for a correlation between its score and residue, penetration and aspiration on Fiberoptic Endoscopic Examination of Swallowing (FEES). 136 patients visiting two specialized dysphagia clinics and undergoing FEES between April 2015 and August 2017, filled the EAT-10 Heb . 23 patients refilled the EAT-10 Heb during a 2-week period following their first visit. FEES were scored for residue (1 point per consistency, maximum 3 points) and penetration and aspiration (1 point for penetration, 2 points for aspiration per consistency, maximum 6 points). 51 healthy volunteers also filled the EAT-10 Heb . Internal consistency and test–retest reproducibility were examined for reliability testing. Validity was established by comparing EAT-10 Heb scores of dysphagia patients to healthy controls. The EAT-10 Heb score was then correlated with the FEES score. Internal consistency of the EAT-10 Heb was high (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.925) as was the test–retest reproducibility (Spearman’s correlation coefficient = 0.82, p