Verbal Fluency Performance in Normal Elderly Persian

Objectives Cognitive deficits and language disorders, such as difficulty in word retrievals, are common among the elderly people. Verbal fluency as an index of word finding is one of the first cognitive functions that decline due to aging. Considering the lack of norms of verbal fluency in normal elderly Persian-speakers, the purpose of this research was to determine verbal fluency performance in elderly Persian speakers. Methods & Materials In this observational study, 90 normal elderly individuals (>60 years, 45 females, 45 males) were categorized into 2 age groups (60-74 years, 75-90 years) and 3 educational groups (<5, 6-12, >12). A verbal fluency test was administered in two parts including a semantic fluency measure in which the participants were required to name from semantic categories and a phonemic fluency (FAS) in 60 seconds. Responses were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed with the Troyer method. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results The findings of this study did not reveal significant differences in semantic and phonemic fluency mean scores between genders. However, significant differences were found in semantic and phonemic fluency between age groups (P<0.001). A significant reverse correlation was found between age and switching (r=0.46, P<0.01). Education also showed a positive correlation with switching (r=0.36, P<0.01). Conclusion The finding of the present study showed that semantic and phonemic fluency decrease through aging and increase with higher education. Gender had no effect on semantic and phonemic fluency. It appears that the decline of verbal fluency due to aging should be considered in rehabilitation programs of language deficits such as aphasia in elderly people.