Trudeau N, Goulet P, Joanette Y
Laboratoire Théophile-Alajouanine, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal.
Acta Neurol Belg. 1993;93(5):283-9.
According to many studies, Broca's (or non fluent) aphasic patients are younger than Wernicke's (or fluent). Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain this age difference. However, since the studies in which an age difference was observed have not controlled all the variables--such as schooling and handedness--that may have an influence on speech and language impairments following cerebral lesion, it is legitimate to ask whether or not the explanations proposed are of any relevance. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the age difference between Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics while achieving better control over potentially confounding variables. The subjects (9 Broca's and 14 Wernicke's) were selected from a data base according to the following selection criteria: aphasia type, handedness, localization of lesion and etiology (first CVA). The two groups revealed to be equivalent for sex distribution and schooling; post onset time was superior to three weeks for all subjects but one. Results showed that the distribution of age between Broca's and Wernicke's group were significantly different: there was a small representation of Broca's aphasics in older subjects while Wernicke's aphasia occurred at all ages.
根据许多研究，布罗卡（或非流利性）失语症患者比韦尼克（或流利性）失语症患者更年轻。人们提出了不同的假设来解释这种年龄差异。然而，由于观察到年龄差异的研究并未控制所有可能对脑损伤后言语和语言障碍有影响的变量，如受教育程度和用手习惯，因此有理由质疑所提出的解释是否有相关性。因此，本研究旨在调查布罗卡失语症患者和韦尼克失语症患者之间的年龄差异，同时更好地控制潜在的混杂变量。根据以下选择标准从数据库中选取研究对象（9名布罗卡失语症患者和14名韦尼克失语症患者）：失语症类型、用手习惯、损伤部位和病因（首次中风）。两组在性别分布和受教育程度方面显示出等同性；除一名患者外，所有患者的发病后时间均超过三周。结果表明，布罗卡失语症组和韦尼克失语症组的年龄分布存在显著差异：老年受试者中布罗卡失语症患者的比例较小，而韦尼克失语症在各年龄段均有发生。
