McAuliffe Megan J, Schluter Philip J, Jamieson Hamish A
Department of Communication Disorders, University of Canterbury - Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Christchurch, New Zealand.
New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, University of Canterbury - Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Int J Speech Lang Pathol. 2019 Dec;21(6):537-546. doi: 10.1080/17549507.2018.1495763. Epub 2018 Oct 15.
Research on the prevalence of communication disability among community living older adults is scant, and often suffers from limitations. Using a national database, this study presents an epidemiological profile of communication disability in older community residents within New Zealand and examines whether ethnic populations are disproportionately represented. Since 2012, all New Zealand community care recipients have undergone a standardised needs assessment, which includes questions directed at expressive and receptive language abilities. Those assessed between 1 September 2012 and 31 January 2016, aged ≥65 years, and who provided consent were included. Directly standardised prevalence estimates were calculated and logistic regression used to investigate age, sex and ethnic differences. Overall, 71 859 people were eligible (mean age = 82.7 years, 61% female, 89.2% European/other), with 30.6% and 36.2% exhibiting at least some expression and comprehension communication disability, respectively. Māori, Pasifika and Asian people, males and those who were older were more likely to have at least some communication disability compared to their European/other, female and younger counterparts. Communication disability is common among older adults. With the increased provision of home-based integrated models of care, the impact of communication disability on service seeking and delivery must be recognised and accommodated.
关于社区居住的老年人中沟通障碍患病率的研究很少，而且往往存在局限性。本研究利用一个国家数据库，呈现了新西兰老年社区居民沟通障碍的流行病学概况，并调查了不同种族人群在其中的占比是否失衡。自2012年以来，所有新西兰社区护理接受者都接受了标准化的需求评估，其中包括针对表达和接受语言能力的问题。纳入了2012年9月1日至2016年1月31日期间接受评估、年龄≥65岁且提供了同意书的人群。计算了直接标准化患病率估计值，并使用逻辑回归来研究年龄、性别和种族差异。总体而言，71859人符合条件（平均年龄=82.7岁，61%为女性，89.2%为欧洲裔/其他种族），分别有30.6%和36.2%的人表现出至少某种程度的表达和理解沟通障碍。与欧洲裔/其他种族、女性和年轻人群相比，毛利人、太平洋岛民、亚洲人、男性以及年龄较大的人更有可能至少存在某种沟通障碍。沟通障碍在老年人中很常见。随着居家综合护理模式的增加，必须认识到并应对沟通障碍对寻求和提供服务的影响。
