Miura H, Kariyasu M, Yamasaki K, Arai Y
Department of Speech Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Kyushu University of Health and Welfare, Nobeoka-shi, Miyazaki, Japan.
J Oral Rehabil. 2007 Jun;34(6):422-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2842.2007.01741.x.
The purpose of the present study was to develop a new assessment scale to evaluate the risk of chewing and swallowing disorders among frail community-dwelling elderly individuals. Subjects were 85 frail elderly individuals (29 men and 56 women) living in southern Japan. First, we pooled 18 subjectively evaluated variables identified by previous studies as being related to chewing and swallowing disorders. Secondly, using factor analysis, we extracted 12 variables as the 'dysphagia risk assessment for the community-dwelling elderly' (DRACE) and examined its reliability using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Thirdly, we examined the validity of the DRACE by comparing it with an existing method for evaluating dysphagia. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the DRACE was 0.88, indicating satisfactory reliability. Dysphagia risk assessment for the community-dwelling elderly scores were significantly related to the results of the 3-oz water test (P < 0.01). Furthermore, DRACE scores were closely associated with activities of daily living as evaluated by the Barthel index, a tendency that was consistent with previous studies. These findings suggest that the DRACE is a useful tool with sufficient reliability and validity to detect latent risk of chewing and swallowing disorders among frail community-dwelling elderly individuals.
本研究的目的是开发一种新的评估量表，以评估居住在社区的体弱老年人咀嚼和吞咽障碍的风险。研究对象为居住在日本南部的85名体弱老年人（29名男性和56名女性）。首先，我们汇总了先前研究确定的18个与咀嚼和吞咽障碍相关的主观评估变量。其次，通过因子分析，我们提取了12个变量作为“社区居住老年人吞咽困难风险评估”（DRACE），并使用克朗巴赫α系数检验其信度。第三，我们通过将DRACE与现有的吞咽困难评估方法进行比较，检验其效度。DRACE的克朗巴赫α系数为0.88，表明信度良好。社区居住老年人吞咽困难风险评估得分与3盎司水试验结果显著相关（P < 0.01）。此外，DRACE得分与Barthel指数评估的日常生活活动密切相关，这一趋势与先前的研究一致。这些发现表明，DRACE是一种有用的工具，具有足够的信度和效度来检测社区居住体弱老年人咀嚼和吞咽障碍的潜在风险。
