Assessing Inpatient Rehabilitation Outcomes for Pediatric Dysphagia with the PEDI-EAT-10

To determine if the Pediatric Assessment Eating Tool (PEDI-EAT-10), a parent- or caregiver-reported measure that describes the impact of swallowing problems on daily life, is sensitive to change in feeding and swallowing impairments in inpatient rehabilitation pediatric patients with an acquired neurologic etiology.

Quality improvement study measuring pre to post-treatment change in the PEDI-EAT-10.

This study was conducted on the pediatric inpatient floor at a large urban rehabilitation hospital.

Caregivers of inpatient pediatric patients with acquired neurologic disorders (n=23, age from 2y, 10mo to 17y, 6mo) completed the PEDI-EAT-10 at admission and discharge.

Patients were provided usual standard of clinical care.

Change scores in PEDI-EAT-10 from admission to discharge and associations between PEDI-EAT-10 at admission/discharge with diet and oral intake measures (Functional Oral Intake Scale [FOIS], International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative [IDDSI] Scale) as well as Penetration Aspiration Scale scores obtained during videofluoroscopy were assessed.

Participants showed a significant improvement in PEDI-EAT-10 scores from admission to discharge (mean change=6.96, SD=10.99, t ₂₂=3.04, P=.006). At admission, PEDI-EAT-10 scores did not correlate with the FOIS (r_s = -0.34, P=.100) or the IDDSI Diet scale (r_s = -0.09, P=.686). However, at discharge, PEDI-EAT-10 scores correlated with the FOIS (r_s = -0.71, 95% CI, -0.87 to -0.42, P<.001) and with the IDDSI Diet scale (r_s = -0.65, 95% CI, -0.84 to -0.33, P=.004). There was no observable linear trend between PEDI-EAT-10 scores and worst Penetration Aspiration Scale score at admission or discharge.

The PEDI-EAT-10 can detect change in an acquired neurologic inpatient pediatric population and may be used to measure outcome of dysphagia rehabilitation in this clinical setting. Given its brevity, inclusion of the PEDI-EAT-10 in routine clinical practice has the potential to offer a quick and precise method of capturing dysphagia outcomes.