The Family History of Developmental Stuttering: A Scoping Review.

International journal of language & communication disorders · 2026 · Systematic Review · SLP
Yuto Sato, Mizuki Aoki, Shoko Miyamoto, Daichi Iimura

A scoping review found that published family history rates for stuttering range from 20.0% to 90.9% because studies count relatives differently. Family history remains a useful risk factor to ask about, but no single published rate should be treated as the definitive figure.

Key findings

1

The reported proportion of people who stutter with a positive family history ranges from 20.0% to 90.9% across studies, and this wide variation is primarily attributed to inconsistent definitions of family history (scope of relatives, lifetime versus current stuttering) and data collection methods.

2

Studies that included relatives who had ever stuttered (lifetime definition, n = 10) reported a higher mean family history rate (58.71%) than those using a current-only definition (n = 2, 53.3%) or those in which the definition was not clearly reported (n = 7, 42.39%).

3

Most studies (12 of 19) did not report the mean age of onset of stuttering, which the authors note is one of the most critical factors for predicting persistence and likelihood of recovery.

MethodologyResultsClinical Relevance

Single-blind randomized controlled trial. Sixty-four participants were randomized across two intervention arms and assessed at twelve weeks for the primary outcome…

Sign in to read the deep summary

Create a free account to read the methodology, results and clinical relevance — three full summaries a month, no card.

Summarised by AI from the abstract, not the full paper. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed