(Stroke. 2006;37:765.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.
Letters to the Editor |
Formal Dysphagia Screening Protocols Prevent Pneumonia
Cardiovascular Disease & Stroke, City University, London, UK
Epsom & St Helier NHS Trust, Carshalton, UK
East Hampshire Primary Care Trust, Portsmouth, UK
To the Editor:
Hinchey and the Stroke Practice Improvement Network Investigators1 are to be commended for managing a major multisite collaborative effort that has compiled a dataset demonstrating current practice in 15 institutions. However, this report is attended by all the usual limitations of this sort of study—dependence on routine documentation rather than evidence of actual practice, in some cases retrospective data extraction, pooling of data from diverse population groups, and an endeavor to identify significant factors among a host of variables which may potentially explain subgroup differences in outcomes.
In this instance, these problems are reflected in significantly different age and ethnicity profiles between clusters of sites, poor completion of key data fields, limited inter-rater reliability of data extraction for crucial variables, and presentation of selected information. Particular problems for this study included limited capture of stroke severity data, very broad definitions of what constitutes dysphagia screening, no information whether screening was performed before oral intake commenced in 25% of patients, and no data regarding duration for which patients were kept nil orally. There is also no consideration of the composite nature of the screened and nonscreened groups; both will have contained a mix of dysphagic and nondysphagic patients, and screening nondysphagic patients is unlikely to have affected pneumonia rates. Although many of these difficulties are acknowledged by the authors, they nonetheless claim a causal relationship, in the title and text, between use of dysphagia screening and reduced aspiration rates. This disregards their comparison of sites according to levels of guideline compliance (ie, a package of "best practice" care management). Given their reportage of only 1 of their 4 selected "quality indicators", we have no idea of other, potentially equally significant discrepant aspects of care.
This study has much to commend it as a means to support local practice development, but its contribution to the body of knowledge is as further corroboration of the merits of adherence to evidence-based guidelines. It is neither unique in this field, (see for example Duncan et al2) nor this area (eg, Perry and McLaren3). What it does not do is demonstrate that formal dysphagia screening reduces incidence of pneumonia; there are many other aspects of care within guideline-compliant management that may contribute to this. Dysphagia screening is an essential yet not sole contributor to this outcome, but this study does nothing to unpack what other key components may be.
Once again, we have another study that shows much of current practice as substandard (for example, only 6 of 11 hospitals with Stroke Units had formal screening protocols), that indicates that we could achieve better outcomes for patients, including by use of dysphagia screening, but without fully investigating what may be required to accomplish this.
References
- Hinchey JA, Shephard T, Furie K, Smith D, Wang D, Tonn S. Formal dysphagia screening protocols prevent pneumonia. Stroke. 2005; 36: 1972–1976.
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Duncan PW, Horner RD, Reker DM, Samsa GP, Hoenig H, Hamilton B, LaClair BJ, Dudley TK. Adherence to postacute rehabilitation guidelines is associated with functional recovery in stroke. Stroke. 2002; 33: 167–178.
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Perry L, McLaren S. Nutritional support in acute stroke: the impact of evidence-based guidelines. Clinical Nutrition. 2003; 22: 3:283–293.
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