Quality of life and post-stroke aphasic syndromes

Objective: Quality of life of patients with post-stroke aphasia is very important aspect of research and rehabilitation of these persons. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of severity and type of aphasia on quality of life in patients after one year of onset of first-ever stroke. Subjects and Methods: It was investigated 51 post-stroke adult aphasic patients (23 males and 28 females) who were treated at the Department of Neurology, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Bosnia andHerzegovina. For determining the severity and type of aphasia Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination was used and the quality of life was assessed using The Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39. Results: Patients with aphasia have reduced quality of life at physical, communication, psychosocial and energy domain. Type of aphasic syndrome significantly affects quality of life (r=0.677, p=0.00). Patients with mixed nonfluent and Broca’s aphasia have worst quality of life. Using the multiple comparison (Tukey-test) it was found that persons with these two aphasic syndromes have significantly lower quality of life compared to those with diagnosed anomic aphasia, transcortical sensory aphasia and alexia with agraphia (p