Associations between cognitive impairment and motor dysfunction in Parkinson's disease.

Yi‐Xuan Wang,Fang Peng,Jue Zhao,Zhen‐Yang Liu,Ke Yang,Feng‐Tao Liu,Jian Wang,Ying Wang,Da‐Ke Li,Jian‐Jun Wu

doi:10.1002/brb3.719

Abstract

IntroductionNumerous studies have been carried out to explore the potential association between neurologic deficits and variable clinical manifestations of Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of our study was to investigate the association between cognitive performance and motor dysfunction in Chinese patients with PD.MethodsData from 96 patients with PD were obtained from the Parkinson's disease patient cohort database of Huashan Hospital. All participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation to assess cognitive status, that included scoring on the Mini‐mental state examination (MMSE), followed by more detailed cognitive assessment on five main cognitive domains (verbal memory, nonverbal memory, visuospatial function, language and attention/executive function). Correlations between cognitive and motor scores were investigated after controlling for age, disease duration, education, and gender.ResultsWe report a significant correlation between subdomains of cognitive impairment and motor dysfunction using analyses of the multiple linear regression. Notably, executive function and attention was significantly associated with bradykinesia and rigidity, while visuospatial function was associated with bradykinesia and tremor.ConclusionsThe association between motor dysfunction and cognitive decline in PD might highlight deficits represented by a shared neurochemical pathway.

Highlights

Numerous studies have been carried out to explore the potential association between neurologic deficits and variable clinical manifestations of Parkinson’s disease (PD)
We investigated the associations between impairments in cognitive subdomains and motor features in Chinese patients with PD
We show that executive dysfunction, Stroop Color Word Interference Test was associated PIGD; Trail Making Test (TMT-B) was associated with bradykinesia; and VFT-animal/city associated with bradykinesia and rigidity

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

It is well recognized that Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a multifaceted neurodegenerative disorder characterized by both motor (bradykinesia, resting tremor, rigidity, and postural instability) and non-motor symptoms (REM behavior disorder [RBD], hyposmia, constipation, depression and, cognitive impairment) (Chaudhuri, Healy, & Schapira, 2006). Problems with executive function, attention/working memory, and visuospatial function are consistently revealed by a battery of neuropsychological examinations in early PD (Aarsland, Bronnick, Larsen, Tysnes, & Alves, 2009; Elgh et al, 2009). The connections between motor functions and cognitive domains have been investigated in newly diagnosed, drug naive PD patients. These authors found a shared system for bradykinesia and inflexible thinking, no association was found between cognitive performance and tremor (Domellof, Elgh, & Forsgren, 2011; Poletti et al, 2012). Cognitive deficits may be subtle in newly diagnosed, drug naive PD patients and no consensus has been reached with respect to the structured cognitive profiles associated with the motor manifestations in PD. The objective of this study is to investigate the association between motor symptom subtypes and profiles of cognitive function in Chinese nondemented PD patients

| METHODS

Findings

| DISCUSSION