Characteristics of prospective memory impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease at early and middle stage

Abstract

Objective To explore the characteristics of prospective memory impairments in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) at the early and middle stage. Methods Fifteen PD patients at the early and middle stage and 15 normal controls matched with age, sex, education and occupation were asked to complete event-based prospective memory (EBPM) and time-based prospective memory (TBPM) tasks. Results In the EBPM task (points), there was a significant difference between PD patients (3.93±2.69) and normal controls (6.00±2.17, t =-2.318,P 0.05). Conclusion The EBPM is impaired and the TBPM is relatively spared in early and middle stage PD patients. Key words: Parkinson disease; Memory disorders; Memory