Education/Age/SES influence on PWA

Question 1

Neils et al. (1995)

Answer 1

• Gave BNT to elderly (65+) non PWA
3-way interaction between age, education, and living environment
o Low education: scores declined with age for non-institutionalized; age didn’t matter for inst
o Mid education: age had similar influence, but lower scores overall for inst, more pronounced for old/mid age
o High education: little difference in terms of age or living environment

Question 2

Henderson et al (1998

Answer 2

– gender, race, education influencing BNT (not PWA
• Race: no sig difference between groups
• Gender: no sig difference between groups
• Age: not an apriori factor, but didn’t appear to have an influence
• Education: significant difference (non-college vs. college)
o May have had more exposure to verbal educational materials

Question 3

Connor, Obler, Tocco, Fitzpatrick, & Albert (2001)

Answer 3

• Relation of educational level to aphasia severity and recovery has had conflicting results
• Retrospective analysis of initial aphasia severity (BDAE) and recovery related to SES
• Education/occupation correlated with aphasia severity initially and long-term
o Lower = more severe
o Similar to links between low SES and severity of illness
• Slope of recovery wasn’t influenced

Question 4

Reis & Petersson (2001)

Answer 4

comment on Connor et al. (2001)
• Issues with Connor et al.
o No carefully defined concepts of education or SES
o No reported quantification of above factors
o Study population not well described
o Used BDAE – but some evidence that education influences performance on BDAE in normal population – need to take into account pre-morbid difference levels
o Potentially penelize low-education individuals if these differenes not taken into account
o The use of psychometric measures uncorrected for various factors may inflate measures of severity of cognitive decline

Question 5

Ross & Wertz (2001)

Answer 5

• Discussion
o Relationships between education and performance surpressed by brain injury
o More education in PWA results in decreased QOL, relationship stronger
o Age associated with performance in both groups: increased age = decreased scores
 For PWA, age related to cognitive performance – may be particulary vulnerable after damage

Question 6

González-Fernández et al. (2011)

Answer 6

o Access to written words less vulnerable in stroke with more education

Question 7

DeRenzi, Faglioni, & Ferrari (1980)

Answer 7

• PWBA younger than PWWA

Question 8

Laksa, Hellblom, Murray, Kahan, & Arbin (2001)

Answer 8

• In a study of the natural course of aphasia, age was significantly related to aphasia recovery in a multivariate regression analysis, with younger patients showing higher degrees of recovery. Aphasia recovery indexed by change of aphasia type over the study.

Question 9

Lendrem & Lincoln (1983)

Answer 9

• In a study of spontaneous recovery from aphasia, recovery (indexed by PICA Functional Communication Profile and the Speech questionnaire given over 6 week intervals), age had no significant influence on the change in language scores.