Prevalence of stuttering in primary school children in Cairo-Egypt

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of stuttering among primary school children in Cairo.

Method: A cross-sectional design was employed. Using a multi-stage random sample from 10 schools in Cairo, a total of 8765 primary school students were enrolled in the study. The teacher referring method was initially used to detect stuttering students, which was then confirmed by a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders–Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria. Personal data were collected for all students and separate questionnaires were administered to the parents of each stuttering child, inquiring about consanguinity, family history, presence of other disorders and family attitudes towards the child.

Result: Prevalence of stuttering among primary school children in Cairo was 1.03%. The prevalence of stuttering showed a declining trend in the older age group. Stuttering was 7-fold more prevalent among left-handed students. Males had a higher prevalence of stuttering, but didn't reach statistical significance. Anxiety was expressed in 25% of the families of affected children. Positive family history was found in 28% of cases, mainly among first-degree relatives.

Conclusion: The current study showed a prevalence of stuttering comparable to other areas of the world with some evidence of hereditary background, although lower than that reported by other studies.

Keywords::

• Prevalence
• stuttering
• school children
• Cairo

Acknowledgement

The authors express their great thanks to the administrative authorities of selected schools for their support in carrying out this research as well to children and their families who participated in the study. This research was approved by the Ethical research Committee of Ain shams Faculty of Medicine and was not funded by any national or international agency.

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.