Elderly pneumonia patients have various underlying diseases and social backgrounds, and it is difficult to predict their mortality using the current severity assessment tools. However, aspiration is a risk factor for mortality in pneumonia patients. In the evaluation of aspiration, endoscopic and video fluoroscopic methods are reliable but cannot be performed in all pneumonia patients. We evaluated the significance of the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA) in these patients. This study was prospectively performed between December 2014 and June 2015, and all adult hospitalized patients with pneumonia were consecutively enrolled. The MASA score was evaluated soon after admission. The outcome measures were in-hospital mortality, a recurrence of pneumonia within 30 days, 6-month mortality, and the detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A total of 153 patients were ultimately included. The proportion of in-hospital mortality was greater among the severe MASA score patients than normal score patients (p < 0.01), as was the proportion of recurrence of pneumonia (p < 0.01) and 6-month mortality (p < 0.01). In addition, patients with a moderate MASA score more often experienced recurrence of pneumonia than normal score patients (p < 0.05). Furthermore, patients with a mild MASA score more often experienced recurrence of pneumonia (p < 0.01) and 6-month mortality (p < 0.05) than normal score patients. The areas under the curve were 0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.67-0.82) for in-hospital mortality, 0.75 (95% CI, 0.68-0.82) for recurrence of pneumonia, 0.72 (95% Cl, 0.64-0.81) for 6-month mortality, and 0.60 (95% CI, 0.46-0.73) for detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A multivariate analysis showed an abnormal MASA score to be an independent risk factor for the recurrence of pneumonia (p = 0.001) and 6-month mortality (p = 0.005). The MASA is useful for predicting the mortality and recurrence of pneumonia in elderly patients.

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