Intra- and inter-rater reliability of swallowing-related muscle assessments using ultrasound devices.

Authors

Shota Ishino, Motoomi Nagasaka, Koki Kawamura, Yuto Masuda, Masaki Kamiya, Taku Iwase, Keisuke Maeda, Hitoshi Kagaya

Published in

Journal of ultrasound. Aug 25, 2025. Epub Aug 25, 2025.

Abstract

To evaluate the inter- and intra-assessor reliability of ultrasonographic assessment of swallowing-related muscle indices in healthy young adults.
Three examiners conducted ultrasonographic evaluations on healthy young adults (n = 34, age: ≥ 20 years) examining the thickness and area of the geniohyoid muscle, anterior belly of the digastric muscle, tongue, and the mylohyoid, masseter, and depressor anguli oris muscles. To assess inter-rater reliability, each examiner evaluated each assessment item for one subject three times on the same day. Intra-rater reliability was assessed by rater No. 3 re-evaluating the participants 4-7 days after the initial measurement, using the retest method. Image analysis was conducted by a single examiner utilizing an ultrasonography measurement tool. Statistical analysis was performed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for intra- and inter-rater reliability.
The study included 34 participants (male: 17, female: 17; age: 25 ± 2 years, body mass index: 20.3 ± 1.7 kg/m²). For intra-rater reliability for thickness of the geniohyoid muscle, ICC = 0.94 [95% CI (0.89, 0.97)], and ICC = 0.90 [95% CI (0.81, 0.93)] for the area of the anterior belly of the digastric muscle. For inter-rater reliability, ICC = 0.93 [95% CI (0.88, 0.96)] and 0.86 [95% CI (0.77, 0.92)] for the thickness of the geniohyoid muscle, and area of the anterior belly of the digastric muscle, respectively.
The inter- and intra-assessor reliability of ultrasound assessments of swallowing-related indices in young healthy subjects was good, exhibiting particularly high accuracy for the geniohyoid muscle and the anterior belly of the digastric muscle.

PMID:
40853540
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Aug 2025.

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