Epidemiology of Stuttering

Question 1

epidemiology

Answer 1

the pattern of occurrence of a disorder including prevalence, incidence, gender rate, natural history, etc

Question 2

prevalence defined

Answer 2

the number of people who have a given disorder at a given point in time or currently

Question 3

Is stuttering a common disorder compared to others?

Answer 3

voice: 3-23% of children, 5-7% adults
arctic/phon: 10-15% preschoolers, 6% school aged
language: 13% children
STUTTERING: 2-5% children, 1% adults
hearing: .1-.6% children

***stuttering is not the rarest, but not the most prevalent

Question 4

what might contribute to the variability in the prevalence of stuttering?

Answer 4

• age at time of testing
• age of onset
• methodology of studies (measurement, definitions, bias, error, etc)
• recovery
• definition provided to parents
• age range
• sample size
• how Qs were asked

Question 5

incidence defined

Answer 5

the number of people who have ever had the disorder

Question 6

incidence of stuttering

Answer 6

~5%

• usually summarized as 3-5%
• yairi and ambrose (2013) suggest 8%

Question 7

earliest age on onset recalled

Answer 7

-in parental report lit: 15mos-2YO

Question 8

reports of latest onset

Answer 8

7-13 years

Question 9

mean and median onset

Answer 9

2-5

Question 10

conclusions of onset

Answer 10

• most likely to occur between 2-4 YO
• child is more likely to begin stuttering at a younger age (after 18 mos)
• reported to be sudden but could be gradual
• treatment doesn’t depend on onset

Question 11

spontaneous/natural recovery

Answer 11

• recovery without formal treatment
• more likely to recover if you have a relative that recovered vs. relatives that did not
• estimated to be 60-80%

Question 12

younger the individual, the HIGHER or LOWER the chance of spontaneous recovery?

Answer 12

higher

Question 13

spontaneous recovery happens most often in…

Answer 13

the first 2 years of onset

-time since onset increases, chance of recovery decreases..this is more important than age

Question 14

Cross cultural prevalence and incidence (Johnson, 1944)

Answer 14

• one of johnson’s students could not find a stutter in the tribes he studied
• the tribes did not have a word for “stutter”
• there was stuttering and words for it and the people were embarrassed to tell the researchers about it

Question 15

does stuttering vary across cultures?

Answer 15

• there is no reason to believe so

- more work needs to be done

Question 16

sex ratio in children

Answer 16

2: 1
male: female

Question 17

sex ratio in adults

Answer 17

6: 1
male: female

Question 18

general sex ratio

Answer 18

3 or 4:1