Incidence of Developmental Speech Dysfluencies in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of developmental speech dysfluencies in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Background: The possible relationship between PD and dysfluencies such as stuttering has engaged researchers for many years. However, whether there is a higher-than-expected incidence of reported childhood stuttering in adults with a diagnosis of PD is unknown. Participants and Methods: A questionnaire including items regarding present and former speech difficulties was answered by 280 individuals with PD. Results: The total number of persons who reported that they had stuttered (often or sometimes) before the age of 10 years was 11, corresponding to 3.9%. The number of persons who reported unusually fast speech before the age of 10 years was 17, corresponding to 6.1%. The reported incidence of childhood stuttering in this group was consequently not higher than that in previously published reports on childhood stuttering (approx. 5%). The frequency of unusually fast speech was notable, but the lack of a control group made it difficult to conclude on the significance of that finding. Conclusion: Although no direct comparison between self-reported incidences of childhood dysfluencies and published incidence figures regarding childhood stuttering can be made, different possible relationships between speech dysfluency and basal ganglia dysfunction are discussed. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel

Perfil da fluência da fala em diferentes tarefas para indivíduos com Doença de Parkinson

“…With respect to stuttering dysfluencies, the findings of this study indicated that individuals with PD presented a larger number of this type of disruption compared with those in the control group, corroborating abundant research found in the literature (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)16,(18)(19)(20)23) . Despite the consensus reported in the literature on the existence of stuttering-like dysfluencies in PD, the reasons for their occurrence are still controversial and not sufficiently clarified.…”

“…The presence of dysfluencies in the speech of individuals with PD has been discussed in several studies in the specific scientific literature (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)16,(18)(19)(20)23) . The results of the present study corroborate the findings of a study (4) which reported that individuals with PD presented a larger number of stuttering-like dysfluencies and lower speech rate when compared with those of a control group.…”

“…Some studies have suggested that speech dysfluencies are exacerbated by levodopa -a medicine used to control the motor symptoms of PD (2,3,18,19) . Another study emphasizes that the increase in speech dysfluency in PD is more closely associated with disease progression than with levodopa levels (20) .…”

“…This degeneration is associated with the appearance of cardinal symptoms of the disease: tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability (1,2) . PD affects approximately 50 in 100,000 people over the age of 50 years worldwide (2) . Regarding speech, hypokinetic dysarthria is present in more than 90% of PD cases.…”

“…The most common manifestations cited in these studies were repetition of sounds, syllables, and words; prolongation of sounds; inappropriate and/or excessively long pauses. Another abnormality observed was palilalia, a disorder characterized by compulsive repetition of a statement in a context of increased rate and decreased loudness (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9) . In some studies, the number of stuttering disruptions presented by individuals with PD was greater than 3% of stuttered syllables, characterizing a stuttering disorder (4,6,8,10) .…”