Cieľ: Vo výskume sme analyzovali jazykové procesy na úrovni slova, vety a textu u pacientov s rôznym stupňom demencie pri Alzheimerovej chorobe (ACH) s cieľom zachytiť a opísať špecifické jazykové deficity u tejto populácie. Súbor a metóda: Výskumnú vzorku tvorilo 79 pacientov s diagnostikovanou demenciou pri ACH. Na diagnostiku jazykových deficitov sme použili batériu testov, ktoré boli vytvorené pre slovenský jazyk: Test pomenovania obrázkov, vybrané subtesty z jazykovej batérie Diagnostika afázie, alexie a agrafie, Test porozumenia viet, Test produkcie viet a Test jazykových procesov na úrovni textu. Výsledky: Porovnanie výkonov pacientov s rôznym stupňom ACH s výkonom zdravých subjektov ukázalo, že všetky porovnávané skupiny sa signifikantne odlišovali v porozumení viet (Kruskal‑Wallis 50,609; p < 0,001), v produkcii viet (K‑W 54,779; p < 0,001) a na úrovni textu (K‑W 64,313; p < 0,001). Na úrovni slov (pomenovanie objektov) sa výkony signifikantne líšili od výkonov normy až pri ťažkom stupni ACH (Mann‑Whitney 22; p < 0,001), pri porozumení izolovaných slov sa nezistili signifikantné rozdiely medzi výkonmi normy a pacientmi s ACH (K‑W 4,506; p = 0,212). Závery: Na včasné zachytenie jazykových deficitov u pacientov s demenciou pri ACH použitie testov na úrovni slov nemôže odhaliť už prítomné poruchy na vyšších úrovniach (veta, text). Výsledky poukazujú na to, že už aj pacienti s ľahkým stupňom demencie sú signifikantne horší než zdraví respondenti v úlohách zameraných na spracovávanie jazykovej informácie na vyššej úrovni (gramatické procesy a procesy spojené s budovaním častí do väčšieho celku)., Purpose: Our goal was to analyze language processes at a single-word, sentence and text levels in a group of patients with dementia due to Alzheimer´s disease (AD), and to describe the specific language impairments in this population. Sample and methods: Seventy-nine patients with AD participated in our study. To evaluate language processes, we used originally developed tests for Slovak language: Picture naming test, selected subtests from the Diagnostics of aphasia, alexia and agraphia language battery, Tests of sentence production, sentence comprehension and language processes at text level. Results: Comparison of all patients with different stages of AD with a control group showed significant difference between groups in sentence comprehension (Kruskal-Wallis 50.609; p < 0.001), sentence production (K-W 54.779; p < 0.001) and at text level (K-W 64.313; p < 0.001). The only significant difference found at a single-word level, was that between the control group and patients with severe AD in naming (lexical retrieval of nouns) (Mann-Whitney 22; p < 0.001), and there was a non-significant difference between patients groups and the control group at a single-word comprehension task (K-W 4.506; p = 0.212). Conclusions: A single-word comprehension task and the picture naming test are inadequate for early detection of existing higherlevel (sentence, text) language processing impairment in patients with AD-related dementia. Our results show that patients with mild AD perform poorer than matched healthy controls on language tasks at the sentence and text level. Sentences and text require activation of grammatical processes and processes linked to macrostructure and inference building. Key words: Alzheimer disease – language disorders – cognitive disorders The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study. The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE “uniform requirements” for biomedical papers., and J. Marková, M. Králová, J. Čunderlíková, I. Hrubá, M. Malík, S. Šutovský, P. Turčáni, B. Mészáros-Hideghéty, Z. Cséfalvay
Porucha pomenovania (anómia) môže byť jedným z prvých príznakov mozgovej patológie. Diagnostika procesu pomenovania je preto súčasťou neuropsychologického alebo logopedického vyšetrenia. Test pomenovania obrázkov v slovenskom jazyku bol vytvorený v roku 2009. Článok prináša analýzu výkonov klinickej populácie s anómiou v teste pomenovania obrázkov. Test bol administrovaný u 119 klientov s rôznou etiológiou mozgovej patológie. Výsledky výskumu ukázali, že vek osvojenia si slov, familiarita slov, predstaviteľnosť slov, frekvencia výskytu slov a vizuálna komplexnosť obrázkov signifikantne ovplyvňujú rýchlosť a presnosť vyhľadávania slov u dospelej klinickej populácie s anómiou. and Influence of item characteristics in picture naming test among Slovak speaking patients with various etiologies of cerebral pathology
Objectives. Naming deficit (anomia) could be one of the first signs of brain pathology. Evaluation of naming is an important part of neuropsychological or speech-language assessment. In 2009 was developed a picture-naming test in the Slovak language. The aim of this study is to present the results of administration of the picture-naming test among a clinical population with anomia. Subjects and setting. The test was administered to 119 clients with different etiologies of cerebral pathology with an average age of 60,81 (SD 16,75). Seventy six clients suffered CVA, twenty six had brain tumor, seven clients were after TBI and ten clients with dementia. All clients were administered with the Slovak naming test individually. All responses were transcript to the response sheet. Hypotheses. The expectation was that the performance in picture naming test will be influenced of item characteristics such as age by acquisition, frequency of occurrence, familiarity, imageability, visual complexity and length of words. Statistical analysis. In one-dimensional analyses standard methods of descriptive statistics were used. Given the relatively large deviation from normal distribution of data (Kolmogorov- Smirnov test for normality) nonparametric equivalents of standard statistical tests were used for the further analysis. To describe the relationship between variables the Kendall tau coefficient was used, and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results. The results showed that in the process of lexical retrieval during picture naming task the age of acquisition, familiarity, imageability, word frequency and the visual complexity of pictures significantly influence the speed and accuracy of lexical retrieval in the adult clinical population.