Table 1. Clinical Characteristics.
| Variable | Cohort, No. (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Derivation (n = 153) |
Internal Validation (n = 64) | External Validation (n = 62) | |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 74 (48) | 37 (58) | 37 (60) |
| Female | 79 (52) | 27 (42) | 25 (40) |
| Age, y, median (IQR) | 79 (67-85) | 76 (65-85) | 74 (68-83) |
| Dependency (mRS) before admission, median (IQR) | 0 (0-1) | 0 (0-1) | 0 (0-1) |
| Stroke severity (NIHSS) at admission, median (IQR) | 12 (6-18) | 16 (11-19) | 10 (7-15) |
| Stroke laterality | |||
| Left | 72 (47) | 30 (47) | 34 (55) |
| Right | 62 (41) | 28 (44) | 21 (34) |
| Bilateral | 19 (12) | 6 (9) | 7 (11) |
| Stroke location | |||
| Cortical | 123 (80) | 51 (80) | 41 (66) |
| Subcortical | 118 (77) | 51 (80) | 43 (69) |
| Cerebellar | 16 (10) | 1 (2) | 4 (7) |
| Brainstem | 17 (11) | 6 (9) | 14 (23) |
| Affected arterial territory | |||
| Cerebral artery | |||
| Middle | 129 (84) | 57 (89) | 46 (74) |
| Anterior cerebral | 14 (9) | 7 (11) | 3 (5) |
| Posterior cerebral | 18 (12) | 5 (8) | 6 (10) |
| Basilar | 12 (8) | 3 (5) | 8 (13) |
| Vertebral | 6 (4) | 3 (5) | 11 (18) |
| Thrombolysis | 75 (49) | 40 (63) | 33 (53) |
| Stroke etiology | |||
| Small-vessel occlusion | 11 (7) | 4 (6) | 5 (8) |
| Large-artery atherosclerosis | 33 (22) | 11 (17) | 14 (23) |
| Cardioembolism | 78 (51) | 31 (48) | 20 (32) |
| Other determined origin | 5 (3) | 8 (13) | 2 (3) |
| Undetermined etiology | 26 (17) | 10 (16) | 21 (34) |
| Initial swallowing evaluation, median (IQR)a | |||
| FOIS score | 2 (1-4) | 2 (1-4) | 1 (1-4) |
| Positive 50-mL water swallow test, No. (%) | 98 (64) | 64 (100) | 60 (97) |
| Any 2 test score | 4 (3-6) | 4 (4-6) | 5 (4-6) |
| GUSS score | Not performed | 3 (2-4) | 5 (2-9) |
| PHAD score | Not performed | 62 (39-70) | 67 (56-72) |
| PRESS score | 5 (3-8) | 6 (4-9) | 6 (4-8) |
| PEG score | 2 (1-2) | 2 (2-3) | 2 (1-2) |
| Stroke outcome at 30 d or at dischargeb | |||
| Dependency (mRS), median (IQR) | 4 (2-5) | 4 (3-5) | 4 (3-4) |
| Institutionalization | 145 (95) | 45 (70) | 45 (73) |
| Pneumonia | 20 (13) | 24 (38) | 16 (26) |
| Death | 8 (5) | 11 (17) | 6 (10) |
Abbreviations: FOIS, Functional Oral Intake Scale; GUSS, Gugging Swallowing Screen; IQR, interquartile range; mRS, modified Rankin scale; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; PEG, percutaneous endoscopic gastronomy; PHAD, Parramatta Hospitals' Assessment of Dysphagia, PRESS, Predictive Swallowing Score.
a
Swallowing evaluations and outcome assessments at day 30 were performed by speech language therapists, and all other evaluations were done by neurologists.
b
The stroke outcome was determined at a 30-day follow-up visit in the validation cohorts and at discharge in the derivation cohort. The number of missing values per parameter is given in eAppendix 4 in the Supplement.