Non-word reading test vs anaesthesia. How do anaesthetised patients decode the contents without referring to the...

The aim of this study was to examine the phonological functioning (reading speed and accuracy) of hospital patients under general anaesthesia administered during colonoscopy.

In this study the 'Łatysz' non-word reading test was used to measure the impact of selected anaesthetics on the phonological aspect of language processing (defined as decoding without referring to the meaning) in a group of 22 anaesthetised patients compared to 23 non-anaesthetised patients from university clinics.

Compared to the preoperative performance, a decrease in reading accuracy and reading speed was observed only in the Anaesthesia Group - AG (in the subjects aged ≥ 35 years) 1.5 h after the administration of anaesthetics. Postoperatively, the AG were significantly slower and less accurate than the Control Group - CG - after 1.5 h. After 3 h, the AG had regained their baseline values both in reading accuracy and reading speed. During the last assessment session, the AG pronounced 82% of the words correctly, while the CG pronounced 74% correctly. Moreover, subjects aged ≥ 35 years performed worse than younger subjects in their reading accuracy and speed.

The patients who underwent colonoscopy under general anaesthesia manifested impaired phonological functioning shortly after the procedure, both in the speed and accuracy of reading non-words. However, the accuracy problems subsided relatively quickly.