A DIFFICULTY in sending mobile-phone text messages could be an early symptom of neurological disease, doctors have warned.

A team of researchers in Dublin has coined the phrase Dystextia to alert phone-users who notice a slowdown in their text-typing speed to be aware of potential neurological problems.

“Usually, if someone is having difficulty sending a text, it is something to do with spelling or language problems,” said Tom Cawood, one of the researchers based at the James Connolly Memorial hospital in Blanchardstown.

“In one case, however, a patient was left-handed, understood language and spelling well enough, and knew what he wanted to say. The difficulty was getting the words out on the phone.”

The patient who inspired the research was a 40-year-old man with a poor history of health. He had type 2 diabetes, obesity and had suffered a previous stroke from which he made a full recovery. He noticed his texting abilities had started to deteriorate, with a reduction in the speed and accuracy of sending messages on his phone.

“For me a good indicator of a problem is to see how everyday things work alongside it,” said Cawood. “In this instance, the patient was able to detect that he was having a stroke by his difficulty in sending text messages.”

Mobile-phone texting involves numerous higher brain functions including vision and language as well as motor skills. These are likely to be impaired in patients presenting with stroke.

The researchers, whose findings are to be published in the Irish Medical Journal, monitored the patient against another person just as familiar with sending texts. Over the course of his recovery, the patient was asked to send two text messages recorded at days 4, 12 and 19 of his stroke rehabilitation.

“The first sentence was ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’, which uses every letter in the alphabet at least once,” said Cawood. “The second sentence was different on each occasion and comprised 10 words, totalling 66 letters.”

The control patient was able to send each message in less than 90 seconds. During his early recovery the patient was only able to send the same message in 190 seconds. By the second trial, his time was down to 140 seconds. By the 19th day of his treatment, he was matching that of the control.

Anne Copeland of the Volunteer Stroke Scheme of Ireland said the association could become a very credible way for people to detect problems.

“If something as simple as detecting changes in how you send a text message can save someone from the misery of further health problems, that is to be welcomed,” said Copeland.

Experts on diabetes said the findings would not help detect its symptoms. “It’s much more likely the stroke had an effect on the patient’s ability to text than on his diabetes,” said Tony O’Sullivan, a Dublin GP. “To put a name like Dystextia only makes light of something very important.”

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