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. 2023 Sep 25:2023:3771601.
doi: 10.1155/2023/3771601. eCollection 2023.

Smaller and Denser Speech Graphs in Nondemented Patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Jinghong Ma  1 , Guanyu Zhang  2 , Xiaomin Sun  3 , Piu Chan  4 , Zheng Ye  5
Affiliations

Smaller and Denser Speech Graphs in Nondemented Patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Jinghong Ma et al. Behav Neurol. .

Abstract

The well-established semantic fluency test measures the ability to produce a sequence of spoken words from a particular category within a limited period of time. Like patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) tend to produce fewer correct words than age-matched healthy adults. This study further examined the difference between patients with PSP and PD in their semantic fluency performance using a graph theory-based approach. Twenty-nine patients with PSP Richardson's syndrome (PSP-RS), thirty-eight patients with PD, and fifty-one healthy controls (HC) were recruited. All participants completed a standard semantic fluency test (animals). Their verbal responses were recorded, transcripted, and transformed into directed speech graphs. The speech graphs of the PSP-RS group showed higher density, shorter diameter, and shorter average shortest path than those of the PD and HC groups. It indicates that the PSP-RS group produced smaller and denser speech graphs than the PD and HC groups. In the PSP-RS group, moreover, the average shortest paths of the speech graphs correlated with the severity of motor symptoms. This study shows the potential of the graph theory-based approach in distinguishing the semantic fluency performance of nondemented patients with PSP-RS and PD.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Directed speech graphs of three representative participants. PSP034, a patient with progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson's syndrome; PD068, a patient with Parkinson's disease; HC032, a healthy control subject. (b) The shortest path (green) between two nodes (blue) in the three participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Means and standard errors of correct words, repetitions, incorrect words, metalinguistic reference, and metacognitive reference in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson's syndrome (PSP-RS), patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and healthy controls (HC). Asterisks, p < 0.05. (b) Means and standard errors of graph density, diameter, and average shortest path in each group. Asterisks, p < 0.05. (c) In PSP-RS, the number of correct words was correlated with the severity of nonmotor symptoms (NMSS score). The average shortest paths of speech graphs correlated with the severity of motor symptoms (MDS-UPDRS III score).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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