Objective: To examine the speech profile in a cohort of patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy with Richardson’s syndrome (PSP-RS) and PSP with predominant parkinsonism (PSP-P) in order to detect any differences in acoustic and perceptual parameters. Secondary outcome was to compare demographic and clinical variables in these groups.

Background: Speech disturbances are very common in PSP. Particularly, according to the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) criteria for clinical diagnosis of PSP [1], hypokinetic-spastic dysarthria is considered as a diagnostic supportive clinical feature. However, to date, the profile of dysarthria between the different variants of PSP is still poorly defined. So, it would be worth exploring whether acoustic and perceptual parameters of speech could contribute to the identification of different PSP phenotypes, including PSP-RS and PSP-P.

Method: Patients with a clinical diagnosis of PSP according to the MDS-PSP criteria admitted to the Neurology Department of the University Hospital of Modena or to the Neurology Unit of AUSL-IRCCS of Reggio Emilia were included in this prospective cohort study. Neurological evaluation and perceptual and acoustic analysis of speech were performed in each patient. The clinical phenotype was determined according to the MDS-PSP criteria, applying the MAX rules. Natural History and Neuroprotection in Parkinson plus syndromes–Parkinson plus scale (NNIPPS-PPS), global score and sub-scores were applied to quantify disease severity.

Results: Twenty-five patients were included in the PSP-RS subgroup, while sixteen in the PSP-P one. These subgroups did not differ in demographical and clinical features, including disease severity quantified by the NNIPPS-PPS total score and disease duration. No significant differences were detected in all speech variables between the two groups. Only the NNIPPS-PPS oculomotor function sub-score was significantly more impaired in PSP-RS patients than PSP-P patients.

Conclusion: PSP-RS and PSP-P patients had a similar speech profile. This is in keeping with the MDS-PSP criteria to consider dysarthria as a supportive diagnostic feature of PSP and not as a distinguishing feature of these phenotypes.

This abstract was previously presented at the 9° Società Italiana Parkinson e Disordini del Movimento/LIMPE-DISMOV ETS Congress; Padova, Italy; 4-6 May 2023.

References: [1] Höglinger GU, Respondek G, Stamelou M, et al. Clinical diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy: The movement disorder society criteria. Mov Disord Off J Mov Disord Soc. 2017;32:853–864.

« Back to 2023 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/an-acoustic-perceptual-analysis-of-speech-in-clinical-psp-phenotypes/