Post-stroke Aphasia in Spanish language: the effect of demographic variables

Background: The pattern of post-stroke aphasia in Spanish speakers has not previously been reported. Furthermore, the association between aphasia type and demographic variables is not clearly understood. Aims: To investigate the incidence and type of aphasia in first-ever acute stroke during the early chronic and later chronic periods in native Spanish speakers and the effect of demographic variables. Methods & Procedures: Spanish versions of Western Aphasia Battery and Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination were used for language assessment. Lesion localization was done by using computerized axial tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Final simple included 243 (97.98%) right-handed, and five (2.02%) left-handed participants; 143 men and 105 women with a mean age of 58.68 years. Outcomes & Results: The types of aphasia included - 14.1% Broca's, 15.3% Wernicke's, 10.1% Conduction, 9.3% Transcortical Sensory, 1.6% Transcortical Motor, 28.2% Anomic, 4.8% Global, and 16.5% Mixed non-fluent. Wernicke's aphasia, along with Transcortical Sensory aphasia was more frequently observed in older people. Broca's aphasia was more prevalent but less severe in women than in men. Auditory Comprehension and Naming negatively correlated with age, while schooling positively correlated with Auditory Comprehension. Time since onset did not significantly affect the type of aphasia. Schooling correlated with the severity of Anomic aphasia. Conclusions: The most common type of aphasia in our sample was Anomic aphasia. Older people had an increased probability to present a fluent type of aphasia. Broca's aphasia was more frequent but less severe in women.