title: Cognitive and Language Function in Aphasic Patients Assessed With the Korean Version of Mini-Mental Status Examination.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the clinical usefulness of the relatively short instrument, the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K), for testing the association between cognition and language function in subacute post-stroke aphasia patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical charts of 111 post-stroke patients (65 men; age 69.6±10.0 years; 124.6±80.6 days post-onset) were reviewed retrospectively. All patients were assessed longitudinally for aphasia using the validated Korean version of the Western Aphasia Battery (K-WAB) and for cognition using the MMSE-K. Patients were categorized and analyzed according to 3 aphasia-severity clusters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All subscales of the K-WAB showed significant improvement in follow-up assessments in all groups (p<0.05 or p<0.01). Only the scores of orientation, language function, and total score of MMSE-K showed significant improvement in all groups (p<0.01). The more severely impaired group showed stronger Pearson correlation coefficients between cognition and language function. Additionally, comparisons between correlation coefficients showed that the association of improvement in orientation with that of fluency and AQ% (aphasia quotient %) was significant in the more severely impaired group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among subacute post-stroke aphasic patients, patients with more severe aphasia showed greater impairments to cognitive function; in addition, recovery of orientation may be related to recovery of language function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Kyoung
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul Bukbu Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul Bukbu Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Rhan
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul Bukbu Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Joo Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea.; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Kangwon National University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Kun Jai
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Aphasia; Cognition; Language; Orientation; Stroke