Table 3.

Assessment of sensitivities and specificities of screening questions in phases 1 and 2^a

Phase 1: screener 1, “How are you currently eating”
Cut‐off values for gold standard		True positive	True negative	False positive	False negative	Sensitivity	Specificity
SICV	Prevalence of having swallowing difficulty using this cut‐off
5.5	3.9%	6	108	63	1	86%	63%
7.1	10.1%	15	106	54	3	83%	66%
12.16	25.3%	36	100	33	9	80%	75%
13.3	32.0%	44	96	25	13	77%	79%
14.5	37.6%	48	90	21	19	72%	81%
16	44.4%	52	82	17	27	66%	83%

Phase 1: screener 2, “I can swallow naturally and easily”
Cut‐off values for gold standard		True positive	True negative	False Positive	False negative	Sensitivity	Specificity
SICV	Prevalence of having swallowing difficulty using this cut‐off
5.5	3.9%	3	98	73	2	71%	57%
7.1	10.1%	12	96	64	6	67%	60%
12.16	25.3%	30	85	48	15	67%	64%
13.3	32.0%	35	80	41	22	61%	66%
14.5	37.6%	40	78	33	27	60%	70%
16	44.4%	45	75	24	34	57%	76%

Phase 2 single question screener: difficulty swallowing question
None/not at all only in all subsequent questions vs all others	61	33	0	4	94%	100%

Phase 2 single question screener: pain swallowing question
None/not at all in all subsequent questions only vs all others	24	38	3	4	86%	93%

Abbreviation: SICV, Swallowing Index Cut‐off Value.

^aFor phase 1, screener 1, response choices were “normal,” “eats soft food only,” “eats pureed food only,” “drinks liquid only,” and “no swallowing at all.”