Sara Mata and Francisca Serrano, researchers from CIMCYC-UGR, have extended the validation of the Oropharyngeal Dysphagia Screening Test for patients and caregivers -EdisfO- (Quirós et al., 2019).
This rapid and scientifically validated tool allows for identifying the risk of oropharyngeal dysphagia in patients with a wide variety of pathologies. The new study validates its efficacy in populations with cognitive impairment and severe mental disorders, improving its usefulness for being applied to a more extensive and diverse group of patients.
This work has been carried out thanks to a collaboration agreement between the University of Granada and the Complejo Asistencial en Salud Mental Benito Menni (Benito Menni CASM, Barcelona), represented by Blas Blánquez, Nursing Supervisor and Mental Health Nurse Specialist.
Dysphagia is a swallowing disorder with a worldwide incidence of 8%, with severe complications: the risk of infection (aspiration pneumonia) and even death increases to 12.8% in these patients. Despite its seriousness, it is under-diagnosed and therefore untreated in many cases.
The risk of dysphagia is higher in patients with cognitive impairment (dementia and intellectual disability) and severe mental disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression). Their diminished attentional capacities, behavioral patterns and consumption of psychotropic drugs that affect the neural centers of swallowing drastically increase the risk of dysphagia.
The EdisfO is the first test in the world designed and scientifically validated so that the professional team responsible for the patient's feeding can report on their situation, drastically reducing the disadvantages of other tests. Most of them involve the use of food in the evaluation, with the consequent serious risk for the patient, or present a self-administered format, assuming that the patient can maintain attention and reflect on his/her condition and implications, something complicated in a population with severe cognitive difficulties or mental health problems.
Benito Menni CASM is a non-profit institution with a vast network of centers in Spain that offers comprehensive and quality health and social care to people with mental illness or needing assistance in social and health care settings.
The transferability of this work is evident. The EdisfO test is available to health professionals in this field. It is already used in all hospitals of the Benito Meni network throughout Spain, and there are signs of interest in adapting and validating it in other countries and languages.
Reference
Mata, S., Blánquez, B., & Serrano, F. (2025). The Oropharyngeal Dysphagia Screening Test for Patients and Professionals: Validation in Cognitive Impairment and in Severe Mental Illness. Dysphagia, 40(1), 98–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-024-10707-0