Identification of a simple screening tool for dysphagia in patients with stroke using factor analysis of multiple dysphagia variables.

Objective: To identify a most useful and simple clinical screening tool to predict videofluoroscopic aspiration in patients with stroke.

Design: Factor analysis of multiple dysphagia variables and sensitivity and specificity testing with chi-square test.

Patients: Sixty-one consecutive stroke patients with symptoms suggestive of dysphagia admitted to a university hospital and its 4 affiliated hospitals in Japan.