The Dutch Mini-Linguistic State Examination (MLSE-NL): findings in Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA)

State of the art: Changes in speech and language occur as the first symptoms of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). The Mini-Linguistic State Examination (MLSE) is a short speech and language screening test used in the diagnostic process of PPA in English-speaking patients. We adapted the MLSE into Dutch (MLSE-NL) and validated this new version as a diagnostic screening tool in Dutch-speaking patients. Methodology: We assessed the MLSE-NL in 90 Dutch-speaking patients with PPA (nonfluent variant PPA (nfvPPA) n = 23, logopenic variant PPA (lvPPA) n = 24, semantic variant PPA (svPPA) n = 32, PPA Not Otherwise Specified (PPA-NOS) n = 11) (mean age: 68.3, 47.8% male) and 276 healthy volunteers (mean age: 56.3, 38.8% male). The MLSE-NL includes subscores in motor speech, phonological structure, semantic knowledge, syntax, and working memory. Group differences were assessed using Kruskal-Wallis tests, with linear models controlling for covariates as confirmatory analyses.