Disability and the diagnostic quality of barium meals in elderly patients

: It is often assumed that the diagnostic quality of a barium meal is likely to be impaired in elderly or disabled patients. We related the technical and diagnostic quality of 76 consecutive barium meals to the physical and mental status of the elderly patients undergoing the investigation. Fifty-three (70%) of the examinations were of good or excellent diagnostic quality and we found no association between diagnostic quality of the barium meal and the patient's age, mobility score, activities of daily living score or mental test score.