Language impairment in cerebellar ataxia.

Background: Several studies have suggested that language impairment can be observed in patients with cerebellar pathology. The aim of this study was to investigate language performance in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6).

Methods: We assessed speech and language in 29 SCA6 patients with standardized linquistic tests and correlated this with the severity of ataxia, as quantified by the Scale of Assessment and Rating of Ataxia.

Results: Individual patients show mild-to-moderate linguistic impairment. Linguistic abnormalities were most distinct on the writing and comprehension subtests. A strong correlation between severity of ataxia and linguistic performance was consistently found.

Conclusions: This study confirms the occurrence of linguistic impairments in patients with cerebellar degenerative diseases, such as SCA6. The relation between linguistic abnormalities and severity of ataxia provides further evidence for a role of the cerebellum in linguistic processing.