Incidence of developmental speech dysfluencies in individuals with Parkinson's disease

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of developmental speech dysfluencies in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD).

The possible relationship between PD and dysfluencies such as stuttering has engaged researchers for many years. However, whether there is a higher-than-expected incidence of reported childhood stuttering in adults with a diagnosis of PD is unknown.

A questionnaire including items regarding present and former speech difficulties was answered by 280 individuals with PD.

The total number of persons who reported that they had stuttered (often or sometimes) before the age of 10 years was 11, corresponding to 3.9%. The number of persons who reported unusually fast speech before the age of 10 years was 17, corresponding to 6.1%. The reported incidence of childhood stuttering in this group was consequently not higher than that in previously published reports on childhood stuttering (approx. 5%). The frequency of unusually fast speech was notable, but the lack of a control group made it difficult to conclude on the significance of that finding.

Although no direct comparison between self-reported incidences of childhood dysfluencies and published incidence figures regarding childhood stuttering can be made, different possible relationships between speech dysfluency and basal ganglia dysfunction are discussed.