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EAT-10 dysphagia screening tool

Dysphagia

08/04/2024

Objective: EAT-10 helps to measure swallowing difficulties. It may be important for you to talk with your physician about treatment options for symptoms.

EATING ASSESSMENT TOOL (EAT-10)

WHAT IS THE EAT-10?

The EAT-10 is an eating assessment tool which has 10 questions to help measure swallowing difficulties.
The EAT-10 can be completed in as little as 2 minutes.
The EAT-10 can help identify those at risk of dysphagia but is not a diagnostic tool.

HOW DO I USE THE EAT-10?

Answer each of the 10 questions.
Tally the total score.
The EAT-10 may also be used to observe changes in symptoms over time.

WHAT COMES AFTER THE EAT-10?

If the score is 3 or higher and/or you are concerned about your patient’s swallowing, they may need to be assessed for dysphagia.
You may need to refer your patient to a swallowing clinic, or to a speech language pathologist, occupational therapist or a registered dietitian who has training in dysphagia assessments to determine a diagnosis.

EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS TOOL
Since the original 2008 publication by Belafsky and colleagues¹ detailing the development of the EAT-10, there are over 180 publications with the EAT-10². These include:

Translation and validation studies of the EAT-10 tool ^3-5
Use of the EAT-10 across care settings in varied applications including:
Predicting aspiration risk ⁶
Documenting response to dysphagia treatment ⁷
Understanding dysphagia prevalence in different populations ^8,9

References

Belafsky PC et al. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol, 2008; ll7(l2):9l9-924.
Pub.Med.gov (accessed August 2021).
Moller R et al. Acta Otolaryngol. 2016;136(7): 749-53.
Demir N et al. Dysphagia, 2016; 31(5): 644-9.
Lechien J et al. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019; 276(6):1727-1736.
Cheney DM et al. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol, 2015; 124(5): 351-4.
Sinn FS et al. Int J Speech Lang Pathol, 2020; 22(1): 78-85.
Igarashi K et al. PLoS One, 2019; 14(1): e0211040.
Yew AY et al. Spine, 2019; 44(2): E82-E88.

Objective: EAT-10 helps to measure swallowing difficulties. It may be important for you to talk with your physician about treatment options for symptoms.

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