title: Fluency in Parkinson's disease: disease duration, cognitive status and age.
abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of occurrence and to characterize the typology of dysfluencies in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD), including the variables age, gender, schooling, disease duration, score on the Hoehn and Yahr scale and cognitive status (score on Mini-Mental State Examination). A cross-sectional study of a sample comprising 60 adults matched for gender, age and schooling was conducted. Group I comprised 30 adults with idiopathic PD, and Group II comprised 30 healthy adults. For assessment of fluency of speech, subjects were asked to utter a narrative based on a sequence of drawings and a transcription of 200 fluent syllables was performed to identify speech dysfluencies. PD patients exhibited a higher overall number of dysfluencies in speech with a large number of atypical dysfluencies. Additionally, results showed an influence of the variables cognitive status, disease duration and age on occurrence of dysfluencies.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Natalia Casagrande
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Brabo
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais Soares C
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Minett
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Karin Zazo
authors.initials: KZ
authors.lastname: Ortiz
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013997:Time Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior