Objective
To develop an objective and quantitative clinical evaluation tool that can be used for diagnosis and severity assessment of dysarthria in patients with stroke.
Methods
A prototype test comprising 23 items was developed to test the function of each speech organ. The scoring of the prototype test was based on the analysis of the result values obtained from 50 healthy individuals. The test was performed for 50 patients with stroke who were suspected to have dysarthria. For evaluating the correlation between each prototype test item and the Urimal Test of Articulation and Phonation (U-TAP), the odds ratio was obtained for each result, based on which the final test items for composing the Korea Dysarthria Test (KDT) were selected. The validity of the test was evaluated using the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve. We used the intraclass correlation coefficients to quantify inter- and intra-rater reliability. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used for examining the correlation between the KDT and the Speech Mechanism Screening Test and U-TAP.
Results
Among the 23 prototype test items, 16 exhibiting significant results were finally selected as the KDT. The higher score of the KDT is reflected the better speaking function. The sensitivity and specificity of the KDT were shown to be high at the cutoff value of 76.50 point.
Conclusion
KDT is a useful evaluation tool for dysarthria, showing a significant correlation with SMST and U-TAP.

Citations

• Correlation Between Articulatory Diadochokinetic Parameters and Dysphagia Parameters in Subacute Stroke Patients
  Back Min Oh, Hyun Seok, Sang-Hyun Kim, Seung Yeol Lee, Su Jung Park, Beom Jin Kim, Hyun Jung Kim
  Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine.2023; 47(3): 192.     CrossRef
• Destruction of Vowel Space Area in Patients with Dysphagia after Stroke
  Min Kyu Choi, Seung Don Yoo, Eo Jin Park
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.2022; 19(20): 13301.     CrossRef