Psycholinguistic Screening for Cognitive Decline in Cancer Survivors: A Feasibility Study.
Kristine Williams, Jamie S Myers, Jinxiang Hu and 2 others
PMID 34411087WHAT IT FOUND
Speech analysis was feasible in 13 men receiving androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer, but it did not show stable relationships with cognitive tests or self-report, so it is not ready to change care.
Key findings
01Only prompted speech samples showed significant relationships between neurocognitive and psycholinguistic measures, and these varied between time 1 and time 2.
02Prompted speech differed from clinical interview speech in mean length of utterance, left-branching clauses, and complete utterances.
03No significant relationships were found between self-reported cognition and psycholinguistic measures.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 13 men were studied, and all came from a parent study, so the findings are preliminary. The significant relationships appeared only in prompted speech and varied between time 1 and time 2. Self-reported cognition did not relate to speech measures, so patient-reported cognitive concerns were not captured by this method. The sample was 92% white and 77% college educated, and all participants had to speak English and travel to the university. The speech analysis required trained research assistants and manual coding, which the authors say is laborious and not feasible at the point of care.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article's publication types list NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that speech analysis can screen cancer survivors' cognitive decline in clinic. This was a 13-person feasibility study, and the relationships were only in prompted speech and varied over time.