Zhou XD, et al. - Researchers proposed and sought validation for a scoring model to predict dysphagia (a common but often neglected complication) in critically ill patients after cardiac surgery by using univariate and multivariate logistic analyses. From 395 consecutive post cardiac surgery patients, data were collected and analyzed from January 2016 to June 2017; 103 (26.1%) of them developed dysphagia. They developed a survival nomogram based on a multivariable Cox model and verified predictive performance of the nomogram for discrimination and calibration. Gastric intubation, sedative drug use duration, and stroke or not were the three independent aspects that were included in the final novel scoring model, named SSG-OD. With sensitivity of 68.5% and specificity of 89.0%, SSG-OD allowed the detection of patients at risk for dysphagia. With good predictive performance, the novel SSG-OD scoring system affords an easy-to-use bedside prognosis aid that could reduce aspiration incidence and speed up recovery.