Abstract

Background: Population aging has brought new challenges to public health, especially concerning the preservation of linguistic abilities in older adults. Aphasia, often caused by strokes, significantly compromises communication and, consequently, the quality of life of elderly individuals. As the population ages, it becomes essential to adapt assessment tools to meet the needs of a diverse population.

Aims: To investigate the performance of older adults on the ABLA Battery and to establish normative data for this population.

Methods and Procedures: The research was conducted with 125 older adults residing in the southern region of Brazil. Participants were organized into age groups (60 to 75 years and over 76 years) and categorized according to educational level (1–4 years, 5–8 years, 9–11 years, and more than 12 years of schooling). Inclusion criteria required individuals to be neurologically healthy, aged over 60 years, and native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. Exclusion criteria included a history of acquired neurological diseases, uncorrected hearing and/or visual impairments, and previous or current use of illicit substances or alcoholism. The evaluation was conducted individually in a controlled environment, using the ABLA Battery, composed of 10 tasks aimed at analyzing different linguistic aspects. For statistical analysis, the Mann-Whitney test was applied to compare age groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for the different educational levels, adopting a significance level of p   0.05.

Outcomes and Results: The findings revealed that, for most tasks analyzed, there were no statistically significant differences between the age groups, suggesting that linguistic abilities remain stable throughout aging. However, the total naming task showed a significant result (p = 0.027), indicating lower performance in the 60–75 years group. Regarding education, participants with 1–4 years of schooling exhibited poorer performance in oral sentence comprehension, copying, reading aloud, and written comprehension tasks, while those with more than 12 years of education achieved the best results. Thus, the standardization of ABLA Battery data represents a significant advancement in the linguistic evaluation of older adults, providing greater diagnostic precision. This study broadens the applicability of the instrument in clinical and scientific contexts, enabling more assertive interventions and contributing to the early detection of linguistic deficits.

Keywords

aging, language, norms, assessment, aphasia