A comparison of sentence production of Turkish patients wıth early and late-onset al-Zheimer's disease

Abstract EN

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a degenerative brain disease and the most common cause of dementia, accounts for an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of cases.

AD has two Subtypes : Early-onset and Late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Both types are characterized by a decline in memory, problem-solving and other cognitive skills that affect a person's ability to perform everyday activities.

Language is the other problem that is observed in these patients.

The aim of this study is to examine the sentences production of patients with early and late onset Alzheimer’s disease by using four different language tests and to compare all the results within groups and language tests.

Our aim is to reveal the differences in sentence processing and language performance of Turkish Alzheimer patients.

In order to reveal the sentence production of Turkish Alzheimer patients, 23 patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, 39 patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease from Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology and an age/education-matched control group are included in this study.

The data were analyzed using t test and Mann-Whitney U test.

For comparison of content and tests, Chisquare ( ) test was performed.

It was found that patients with early-onset AD used more basic sentences in Picnic Picture description test, Cookie Theft Picture description test and the Story Picture Sequencing test compared to late-onset AD patients.

In Random Speech test, patients with late-onset AD used more basic sentences.

The other finding was about the nominal and the verbal sentences.

It was revealed that patients with early-onset AD used more nominal sentences in all tests compared to late-onset patients.

In terms of verbal sentences, it was found that patients with late-onset AD used more verbal sentences than the early-onset patients.

Comparison about sentence production of AD patients within tests shows that the highest percent of basic sentence use of AD patients is in Picnic Picture test and the lowest percent is in Random Speech test.

In conclusion, early-onset AD patients perform worse due to their cognitive deficits compared to late-onset patients.

They tend to use basic and nominal sentences more.