Verbal and oral apraxia in patients with acute stroke: Frequency, relationship, and some risk factors

Verbal and oral apraxia are two possible consequences of stroke. It seems that there are not sufficient studies regarding the frequency of these disorders. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of Verbal and oral apraxia. In addition, the relationship between apraxia and some variables such as age, gender, and education, as well as the relationship between types of apraxia with each other, and damaged areas of the brain in apraxia of the oral system in Persian-speaking patients with stroke were studied. In this descriptive-analytical study, 42 patients participated using the convenient sampling method. Verbal and oral apraxia were assessed using the oral and verbal apraxia tasks for adults test. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, Chi-square, and Fisher's exact test. The frequency of patients with oral apraxia was 35.7%, those with verbal apraxia was 2.3%, and the combination of both verbal and oral apraxia was 4.7%. People with apraxia were significantly older than those without apraxia. There was not any significant relationship between apraxia and gender, apraxia and education, and oral apraxia with verbal apraxia (p < 0.05). The present study's findings showed the high frequency of post-stroke apraxia and the high rate of its incidence with age.

Automated summary

This study examined the frequency of verbal and oral apraxia in Persian-speaking stroke patients and found that the prevalence of oral apraxia was 35.7%, verbal apraxia was 2.3%, and the combination of both was 4.7%. Age was found to be significantly associated with apraxia, while there were no significant relationships between apraxia and gender, education, or the co-occurrence of verbal and oral apraxia.