Characterization of stroke with a focus on oral communication disorders in inpatients of a regional hospital Caracterização de acidente vascular cerebral com enfoque em distúrbios da comunicação oral em pacientes de um hospital regional

ABSTRACT Purpose: To characterize patients with stroke and to establish the preva-lence of oral communication disorders (CD) related by cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and the frequency of indication or request of speech therapy. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study from the me-dical report forms of 95 patients hospitalized for stroke between June 2007 and June 2008 in a regional public hospital. Results: Out of the 95 patients, 51 (53.7%) were male (mean age was 59.8 years old), 48 (59.3%) had a history of hypertension, 82 (86.3%) had ischaemic stroke and CD were present in 53 (55.8%) of patients. The mean hospital stay was 5 days. There was no significant relationship between the type of stroke and CD, or between the site of neurological damage due to stroke and the occurrence of CD. None of the subjects received an evaluation or speech-language therapy during hospitalization, and there were no referrals to healthcare after discharge. Conclusion: More than 50% of individuals affected by stroke had oral communication disorders during the hospitalization. There was no any indication or request for speech therapy in this period, even after discharge. These findings indicate a pro-bable failure to integrate with the speech therapy staff for the treatment of patients with neurological diseases. It is necessary to further evaluate whether this is due absence of speech therapists in the team or just heal-thcare professionals lacking knowledge about the possibilities of speech therapy along with disturbances in oral communication due to stroke.