The Influence of Speech and Language Disorders on the Effectiveness of Rehabilitation of Individuals who Suffered Stroke

Abstract

Background. The speech and language disorders for stroke patients are associate with bigger morbidity, mortality, hypofunction, but the literature fndings are controversial. The aim of the study is to analyse the influence of speech and language disorders on the effectiveness of rehabilitation of individuals who suffered stroke. Subjects and methods. The study involved 64 individuals with stroke who were treated at LUHSH KK Neurorehabilitation subdivision during the years 2008 and 2010. In this analysis a retrospective data from hospital medical records forms was used. The effectiveness of rehabilitation was assessed by a change of results of functional independence measurement (FIM) and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) tests during rehabilitation. The factors that may influence the effectiveness of rehabilitation (age, gender, type of speech and language disorder) were analysed. Results. The analysis revealed that rehabilitation was effective and effcient for individuals who suffered stroke both in the right and the left side, and the difference was not statistically signifcant. The FIM results of individuals with speech disorders before rehabilitation were worse, comparing to those who had speech and language disorder. The difference was statistically significant (p = 0.004). But after rehabilitation, although the FIM results of subjects with speech impairments remained lower, the difference was not statistically signifcant (p = 0.367). The difference between FIM results after rehabilitation among separate aphasia groups was not statistically signifcant. But there was a statistically signifcant difference, comparing MMSE results before and after rehabilitation (p = 0.02). Conclusions. The inpatient rehabilitation was effective for stroke patients. The age and gender did not have statistically signifcant influence. The speech and language disorders did not have statistically signifcant influence to recovery of cognitive dysfunction for stroke patients in the early period of rehabilitation.

Keywords: stroke, speech and language disorder, rehabilitation.