Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?

<h4>Introduction</h4>Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a dementia syndrome whose onset and course manifests with language deficits. There is a lack of instruments for clinical assessment of language in dementia and further research in the area is needed. Therefore, the objective of th...

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Main Authors: Andressa Aguiar da Silva, Marcela Lima Silagi, Karin Zazo Ortiz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318155
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author Andressa Aguiar da Silva
Marcela Lima Silagi
Karin Zazo Ortiz
author_facet Andressa Aguiar da Silva
Marcela Lima Silagi
Karin Zazo Ortiz
author_sort Andressa Aguiar da Silva
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Introduction</h4>Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a dementia syndrome whose onset and course manifests with language deficits. There is a lack of instruments for clinical assessment of language in dementia and further research in the area is needed. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to identify language tasks that can aid the process of clinically diagnosing PPA and to determine those tasks most impaired in this population.<h4>Method</h4>A sample of 87 individuals comprising 2 groups was assessed: a PPA group (PPAG) of 29 PPA patients; and a control group (CG) of 58 healthy subjects matched for age and education. All participants underwent a brief cognitive battery followed by a comprehensive language assessment using the MTL-BR Battery.<h4>Results</h4>A statistically significant performance difference was found between the PPAG and CG on the following tasks: structured interview, oral comprehension of phrases, oral narrative discourse, written comprehension of phrases, written dictation, sentence repetition, semantic verbal fluency, oral naming of nouns and verbs, object manipulation, phonological verbal fluency, body part recognition and left-right orientation, written naming of nouns, oral text comprehension, number dictation, written narrative discourse, written text comprehension and numerical calculations (mental and written).<h4>Conclusion</h4>The results revealed that performance of PPA patients was poorer compared to healthy subjects on various language tasks. The most useful subtests from the MTL-BR battery for aiding clinical diagnosis of PPA were identified, tasks which should be prioritized when assessing this patient group.
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spelling doaj-art-d60f54ea456944b7991667e435270e0c2025-02-10T05:30:36ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01202e031815510.1371/journal.pone.0318155Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?Andressa Aguiar da SilvaMarcela Lima SilagiKarin Zazo Ortiz<h4>Introduction</h4>Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a dementia syndrome whose onset and course manifests with language deficits. There is a lack of instruments for clinical assessment of language in dementia and further research in the area is needed. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to identify language tasks that can aid the process of clinically diagnosing PPA and to determine those tasks most impaired in this population.<h4>Method</h4>A sample of 87 individuals comprising 2 groups was assessed: a PPA group (PPAG) of 29 PPA patients; and a control group (CG) of 58 healthy subjects matched for age and education. All participants underwent a brief cognitive battery followed by a comprehensive language assessment using the MTL-BR Battery.<h4>Results</h4>A statistically significant performance difference was found between the PPAG and CG on the following tasks: structured interview, oral comprehension of phrases, oral narrative discourse, written comprehension of phrases, written dictation, sentence repetition, semantic verbal fluency, oral naming of nouns and verbs, object manipulation, phonological verbal fluency, body part recognition and left-right orientation, written naming of nouns, oral text comprehension, number dictation, written narrative discourse, written text comprehension and numerical calculations (mental and written).<h4>Conclusion</h4>The results revealed that performance of PPA patients was poorer compared to healthy subjects on various language tasks. The most useful subtests from the MTL-BR battery for aiding clinical diagnosis of PPA were identified, tasks which should be prioritized when assessing this patient group.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318155
spellingShingle Andressa Aguiar da Silva
Marcela Lima Silagi
Karin Zazo Ortiz
Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?
PLoS ONE
title Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?
title_full Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?
title_fullStr Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?
title_full_unstemmed Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?
title_short Language assessment in primary progressive aphasia: Which components should be tested?
title_sort language assessment in primary progressive aphasia which components should be tested
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318155
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