Association Between Clinical Dysphagia Assessment Tools and Videofluoroscopic Findings in Amyotrophic Lateral...

Background and Objectives: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease frequently associated with dysphagia and aspiration risk. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between clinical dysphagia assessment tools (EAT-10, GUSS, RSST, and sialorrhea severity) and videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) findings in patients with ALS. Materials and Methods: This retrospective observational study included 60 patients with ALS classified as spinal-onset (n = 38) or bulbar-onset (n = 22). Relationships between clinical assessments and VFSS findings were analysed using Spearman correlation analysis. Exploratory multivariable regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to evaluate associations and aspiration risk discrimination. Results: Strong negative correlations were observed between PAS-Liquid and RSST and GUSS scores, whereas EAT-10 showed a strong positive correlation (all p < 0.001). ROC analyses demonstrated good discriminative ability for aspiration risk for GUSS (AUC = 0.89), RSST (AUC = 0.88), and EAT-10 (AUC = 0.82). Patients with bulbar-onset ALS demonstrated higher penetration-aspiration severity and lower functional oral intake. Conclusions: Clinical dysphagia assessment tools showed significant associations with instrumental swallowing findings in ALS. GUSS and RSST demonstrated good discriminative ability for aspiration risk and may be clinically useful bedside screening tools. However, instrumental swallowing assessment remains essential whenever feasible.