Abstract

Background

Bilingualism may affect the profile of cognitive disturbances associated with stroke. Its impact on aphasia severity, however, is in need of substantiation.

Aims

To determine the relationship between bilingualism and vascular aphasia severity.

Methods

This is an observational cross-sectional study conducted on people with post-stroke aphasia. Our sample included 155 monolingual and 53 bilingual vascular aphasia patients. They were selected in a neurological hospital in Kolkata (West Bengal, India).

Results

The Bengali version of Western Aphasia Battery (BWAB) was used in this study. Aphasia severity was compared between monolingual and bilingual participants. The overall difference in the mean aphasia quotient (AQ) between bilingual and monolingual participants was statistically significant (p = 0.009). It was also found that in bilingual participants, aphasia was less severe in certain subgroups, namely: higher lesion volume, male gender, and sub-cortical stroke, while in none of the subgroups a monolingual advantage was documented.

Conclusion

Current results suggest that bilingualism represents a protective factor in vascular aphasia; this effect is observed particularly in some aphasia subgroups.

中文翻译：

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双语作为失语症的保护因素

摘要

背景

双语可能会影响与中风相关的认知障碍。然而，它对失语症严重程度的影响还需要证实。

目标

确定双语与血管性失语严重程度之间的关系。

方法

这是一项针对中风后失语症患者进行的观察性横断面研究。我们的样本包括 155 名单语和 53 名双语血管性失语症患者。他们是在加尔各答（印度西孟加拉邦）的一家神经医院被选中的。

结果

本研究使用孟加拉语版本的西方失语症电池 (BWAB)。比较单语和双语参与者的失语严重程度。双语和单语参与者之间平均失语商数 (AQ) 的总体差异具有统计学显着性 ( p  = 0.009)。研究还发现，在双语参与者中，某些亚组的失语症较轻，即：较大的病变体积、男性和皮质下中风，而在所有亚组中都没有记录到单语优势。

结论

目前的结果表明，双语是血管性失语症的一个保护因素。这种效应在某些失语症亚组中尤其明显。