Distinctive verbal fluency patterns in atypical parkinsonian syndromes ; Žodinio sklandumo ypatumai, sergant atipiniais parkinsonizmo sindromais

Background. The verbal fluency test is a brief and accurate examination of the patients cognitive and executive functions. It is very sensitive to frontal and temporal lobe disorders which are often reported in atypical parkinsonian syndromes, namely progressive supranuclear palsy(PSP), corticobasal degeneration(CBD) and multiple system atrophy(MSA). The verbal fluency test has been included in Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination, primarily used for screening for various types of dementia. In this study we sought to evaluate how we could differentiate between PSP, CBD and MSA using the verbal fluency test adapted to a Lithuanian – speaking population. Patients and Methods. 8 patients with PSP, 5 patients with CBD and 7 patients with MSA were recruited to participate in our study. The verbal fluency test, consisting of two tasks, adapted to the Lithuanian – speaking population was administered to each patient and total words generated for each task were evaluated. We compared the results between each patient group. Mean values with 95% Confidence Intervals and a one – way ANOVA with a post – hoc Bonferroni was used for statistical analysis. Results. Mean values of total words generated with a 95% CI for each group respectively were: PSP - 4.87 (4.18;5.57), CBD - 6.20 (5.64;6.75) and MSA - 9.28 (8.26;10.31) for phonemic fluency and PSP - 7.00 (6.22;7.77), CBD - 8.40 (7.71;9.08) and MSA - 12.86 (12.03;13.69) for semantic fluency. Statistically significant differences were noticed between and within groups in both phonemic(F=48.422, p<0.01) and semantic(F=94.991, p<0.01) fluency. Post – hoc Bonferroni analysis revealed that significant differences were in PSP group compared to MSA(p<0.01) and MSA group compared to CBD(p<0.01) for phonemic(letter) fluency and PSP group compared to MSA(p<0.01), MSA group compared to CBD(p<0.01) for semantic(category) fluency. Conclussions. The MSA group had significantly better results in both phonemic and semantic fluency than the CBD and PSP groups and should be ...