Abstract

Our aim was to validate a Finnish version of the Eating Assessment Tool (F-EAT-10) for clinical use and to test its reliability and validity in a multicenter nationwide study. Normative data were acquired from 180 non-dysphagic participants (median age 57.0 years, 62.2% female). Dysphagia patients (n = 117, median age 69.7 years, 53.0% female) referred to fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) completed F-EAT-10 before the examination and after 2 weeks. Patients underwent the 100-ml water swallow test (WST) and FEES was evaluated using the following three scales: the Yale Pharyngeal Residue Severity Rating Scale, Penetration-Aspiration Scale, and the Dysphagia Outcome Severity Scale. An operative cohort of 19 patients (median age 75.8 years, 57.9% female) underwent an endoscopic operation on Zenker’s diverticulum, tight cricopharyngeal muscle diagnosed in videofluorography, or both. Patients completed the F-EAT-10 preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. The cut-off score for controls was < 3 (sensitivity 94.0%, specificity 96.1%) suggesting that ≥ 3 is abnormal. Re-questionnaires for test–retest reliability analysis were available from 92 FEES patients and 123 controls. The intraclass correlation coefficient was excellent for the total F-EAT-10 score (0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.91–0.95). Pearson correlation coefficients were strong (p < 0.001) for each of the questions and the total score. Internal consistency as assessed by Cronbach’s alpha was excellent (0.95). Some correlations between findings in FEES and 100-ml WST with F-EAT-10 were observed. The change in subjective symptoms of operative patients paralleled the change in F-EAT-10. F-EAT-10 is a reliable, valid, and symptom-specific patient-reported outcome measure for assessing dysphagia among Finnish speakers.