Table 5.

Comparison of agreement between clinician’s assessment and the central laboratory’s expert assessment of Penetration-Aspiration Scale scores by intervention.

			Level of agreement between clinician and central laboratory assessments of pen-asp score1
			Exact Match		Up to One Step Difference2
Intervention, condition	Clinician Assessment	Patients	N	%	N	%
Chin-down, 3ml	No penetration (1)	250	168	67	227	91
	Penetration (2–5)	248	155	63	207	83
	Aspiration (6–8)	231	178	77	194	84
	Overall	729	501	69	628	86
	Tau correlation		0.77
Nectar, 3ml	No penetration	336	255	76	303	90
	Penetration	217	132	61	178	82
	Aspiration	182	125	69	139	76
	Overall	735	512	70	620	84
	Tau correlation		0.74
Honey, 3ml	No penetration	422	336	80	367	87
	Penetration	166	97	58	130	78
	Aspiration	181	132	73	138	76
	Overall	769	565	73	635	83
	Tau correlation		0.73
Chin down, cup	No penetration	161	110	68	149	93
	Penetration	238	162	68	194	82
	Aspiration	227	175	77	197	87
	Overall	626	447	71	540	86
	Tau correlation		0.81
Nectar, cup	No penetration	180	139	77	158	88
	Penetration	237	157	66	188	79
	Aspiration	207	145	70	161	78
	Overall	624	441	71	507	81
	Tau correlation		0.76
Honey, cup	No penetration	344	297	86	316	92
	Penetration	163	97	60	126	77
	Aspiration	201	152	76	161	80
	Overall	708	546	76	603	85
	Tau correlation		0.77

¹Agreement is based on the exact P/A scale value assigned by the clinician and the CL. E.g., a score of 3 by the clinician and 3 by the CL indicates exact agreement, whereas a score of 2 by the clinician and 3 by the CL indicates a difference of one on the P/A scale.

²Includes all instances of exact match and all instances where the difference was exactly one step on the P/A scale