title: Formal education, socioeconomic status, and the severity of aphasia after stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the role of education and socioeconomic status on the severity of aphasia after stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Stroke units of 2 affiliated medical centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Stroke patients (n=173) within 24 hours of symptom development and hospitalized controls (n=62) matched for age, education, and socioeconomic status (SES) with normative brain magnetic resonance imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  Not applicable.
  
  
  METHODS
  Percent error on 9 language tasks (auditory and written comprehension, naming [oral, written, and tactile], oral reading, oral spelling, written spelling, and repetition). Education was recorded in years and dichotomized as less than 12 years or 12 years and above for data analysis. Demographic characteristics (age, sex, race) and stroke volume were recorded for adjustment. SES was obtained from census tract data as 2 variables: mean neighborhood household income and family income.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of errors for participants with 12 or more years of education was significantly lower for auditory and written comprehension, written naming, oral reading, oral spelling, and written spelling of fifth grade vocabulary words, even after adjusting for age, sex, stroke volume, and SES.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that even once learned, access to written word forms may become less vulnerable to disruption by stroke with increasing years of education.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. mgonzal5@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Marlís
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González-Fernández
authors.forename: Cameron
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Molitoris
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Newhart
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.forename: Argye E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Hillis
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001037:Aphasia / Q000209:etiology*; D032882:Comprehension; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007803:Language Arts; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*