Hungarian Aphasia Screening Test: a new rapid screening tool for detecting aphasia in stroke patients

Introduction: Although aphasia screening tools are widely used internationally, in Hungarian, to date, there have been no aphasia screening tests with reported psychometric properties available. Objective: (1) To provide an overview of the international practice and the tools of post-stroke aphasia screening. (2) To present a recently developed aphasia screening test in Hungarian. Method: The Hungarian Aphasia Screening Test comprises five tasks assessing speech comprehension and production, and takes 5-10 minutes to complete. The test is easy to score and needs little equipment, therefore it can be useful in any clinical setting that allows for quick test administration and diagnostics. Based on results of two studies, we evaluate the psychometric properties and the diagnostic accuracy of the test, and determine three impairment sever-ity ranks (mild, moderate, severe aphasia) for the test. The severity ranks were defined based on results of 70 people with post-stroke aphasia (35 women; average age: 61.4 years; average postonset: 12.6 months). Results: The test has high diagnostic accuracy, a sensitivity of 92.5% and a specificity of 88.5%. It shows acceptable structural and concurrent (MR = 0.68) validity as well as good internal consistency (M alpha = 0.74). The cut-off score for diagnosing aphasia is 17. Discussion: The test can differentiate stroke patients with and without aphasia. With the use of the test, patients' aphasia can be rated as mild (score 14-17), moderate (score 9-13), or severe (score 0-8). Our results suggest that it is a reliable and valid screening tool. Conclusion: The test can detect the presence and quantify the severity of aphasia. We discuss the importance of apha-sia screening in clinical settings and of the use of the Hungarian Aphasia Screening Test in the context of the inter-national practices.