Background

The evidence about the language performance profile of multiple system atrophy (MSA) is limited, but its definition may lead to a more comprehensive characterization of the disorder and contribute to clarify the involvement of the basal ganglia in language abilities.

Objective

The objectives of the study were: (1) to evaluate the reliability of the Screening for Aphasia in NeuroDegeneration (SAND) in MSA patients; (2) compare the linguistic profiles among MSA and Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and healthy controls (HC), and (3) assess relationships between language impairment and cognitive status and MSA motor subtypes.

Methods and results

Forty patients with a diagnosis of MSA, 22 HC and 17 patients with PD were enrolled in the present study. By excluding the writing task that showed a poor acceptability, we showed that the MSA-tailored SAND Global Score is an acceptable, consistent and reliable tool to screen language disturbances in MSA. MSA patients performed worse than HC, but not than PD, in MSA-tailored SAND Global Score, repetition, reading and semantic association tasks. We did not find significant differences between MSA phenotypes. MSA patients with mild cognitive impairment-multiple domain presented worse language performances as compared to MSA patients with normal cognition and mild cognitive impairment-single domain.

Conclusion

The MSA-tailored SAND Global Score is a consistent and reliable tool to screen language disturbances in MSA. Language disturbances characterize MSA patients irrespective of disease phenotype, and parallel the decline of global cognitive functions.

中文翻译：

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多系统萎缩中的语言概况：一项探索性研究

 背景

关于多系统萎缩症（MSA）语言表现特征的证据有限，但其定义可能会导致对该疾病的更全面的表征，并有助于阐明基底神经节在语言能力中的参与。

 客观的

该研究的目的是：（1）评估 MSA 患者神经变性失语症筛查（SAND）的可靠性； (2) 比较 MSA 和帕金森病 (PD) 患者与健康对照 (HC) 之间的语言特征，(3) 评估语言障碍与认知状态和 MSA 运动亚型之间的关系。

 方法和结果

本研究纳入了 40 名诊断为 MSA 的患者、22 名 HC 患者和 17 名 PD 患者。通过排除可接受性较差的写作任务，我们表明 MSA 定制的 SAND 全局评分是一种可接受的、一致且可靠的工具，用于筛查 MSA 中的语言障碍。在 MSA 定制的 SAND 全局评分、重复、阅读和语义关联任务中，MSA 患者的表现比 HC 差，但不比 PD 差。我们没有发现 MSA 表型之间存在显着差异。与认知正常和轻度认知障碍（单域）的 MSA 患者相比，轻度认知障碍（多域）的 MSA 患者表现出更差的语言表现。

 结论

MSA 定制的 SAND Global Score 是一个一致且可靠的工具，用于筛查 MSA 中的语言障碍。无论疾病表型如何，语言障碍都是 MSA 患者的特征，并且与整体认知功能的下降相平行。