The Italian Version of the Munich Dysphagia Test-Parkinson's Disease: Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Clinical Validation

Background: Intact swallowing functions are essential for nourishment and if impaired can seriously compromise the respiratory tract. Oropharyngeal Dysphagia (OD) can contribute to aspiration pneumonia, the leading cause of death in patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Heterogeneous screening instruments with low specificity/sensitivity impede early detection. The Munich Dysphagia Test-Parkinson's disease (MDT-PD), a patient-reporting questionnaire, is the first screening tool developed for the early detection of OD and the risk of aspiration. Objective: The objective of this study is the validation of an Italian-language version of the MDT-PD. Design: Blind Cross-Sectional study. Methods: translation/ cultural adaptation of MDT-PD into Italian followed international guidelines. The validation of the Italian version involved 30 continuous PD patients. 119 patients were selected for diagnostic validation. Inclusion Criteria: males/females between 40–80 years of age, Hoehn & Yahr 2.5–4, stable therapeutical response for one month. Interclass coefficient correlation and Cronbach's Alpha Limit were evaluated. The repeatability of MDT-PD was assessed using Pearson r, and comprehension of each scale item was evaluated by an expert interviewer. Results: validation achieved highly significant scores for reliability and repeatability. The cut-off points obtained to discriminate the presence of dysphagia with aspiration risk were 1.15 and 2.4. Conclusion: the Italian version of MDT-PD is a viable, non-invasive, easy-to-administer screening tool for detecting subclinical or early stages of dysphagia and aspiration risk in Italian PD patients. Clinical Rehabilitation Impact: an early evaluation of PD inpatients, using the MDT-PD allows for a tailored and cost-effective speech pathology treatment and a significant reduction of respiratory complications.