The Benefit of Dysphagia Screening in Adult Patients With Stroke: A Meta‐Analysis

BACKGROUND: Early identification of dysphagia aims to mitigate the risk of health consequences in adults poststroke; however, the evidence from experimental trials alone is inconclusive. This meta‐analysis assessed dysphagia screening benefit from both trial and observational data. METHODS AND RESULTS: Seven electronic databases were searched to December 2019. Unique abstracts and full articles were screened for eligibility by 2 independent blinded raters using a priori criteria and discrepancies resolved by consensus. Included studies were summarized descriptively and assessed for methodological quality using Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Across studies, pooled estimates of health benefit were derived for homogeneous data using Review Manger 5.3. From the yield of 8860 citations, 30 unique articles were selected: 24 observational and 6 randomized trials. Across studies, comparisons varied: no screening versus screening, late versus earlier screening, informal versus formal screening, pre‐ versus postscreening, and pre‐ versus poststroke guidelines that included screening. Pooled estimates across comparisons favored experimental groups for pneumonia odds ratio (OR), 0.57 (95% CI, 0.45–0.72), mortality OR, 0.52 (95% CI, 0.35–0.77), dependency OR, 0.54 (95% CI, 0.35–0.85), and length of stay standardized mean difference, −0.62 (95% CI, −1.05 to −0.20). CONCLUSIONS: Combining evidence from experimental and observational studies derived a significant protective health benefit of dysphagia screening following adult acute stroke for pneumonia, mortality, dependency, and length of stay.