Caregiver report of prevalence and appearance order of linguistic symptoms in Alzheimer's patients.
We interviewed primary caregivers of 99 Alzheimer's disease patients about the existence and appearance order of linguistic symptoms in a longitudinal study of disease effects on communication. The most prevalent linguistic symptom was difficulty finding the correct word and the least prevalent was increased talkativeness. The prevalence of linguistic symptoms was strongly correlated with order of symptom appearance, with difficulty writing a meaningful letter appearing first and word finding difficulty appearing second. Based on caregiver perceptions, symptom prevalence and order of appearance are specified and discussed in relation to onset of nonlinguistic memory deficit, dementia severity, and performance on a linguistic communication test battery.
Bayles
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KA
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.
Tomoeda
C K
CK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014705:Verbal Behavior