Swallow and Voice Outcomes
Swallowing and voice outcomes were influenced by curtailed access during
COVID-19 to instrumental assessments typically used in intensive care
settings such as fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES).
Presence and severity of PED was measured using the Functional Oral
Intake Scale (FOIS) (19). The FOIS is a validated 7-point ordinal rating
scale with high inter-rater reliability (19). A second proxy dysphagia
measure was food and fluid consistencies required for dysphagia
management, using the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation
Initiative (IDDSI) (20). Voice quality was evaluated using the overall
Grade (G) score from the GRBAS scale (21). The scale has established
high rater reliability (21) and is widely used in clinical research
(12).