Parkinson's Disease-Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS): Normative Data and Mild Cognitive Impairment Assessment in Brazil.

Abstract

The Parkinson's Disease-Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS) assesses posterior-cortical and frontal-subcortical cognitive functioning and distinguishes mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD-MCI); however, it was not evaluated in Brazil. To investigate PD-CRS's reliability, validity, normative data, and accuracy for PD-MCI screening in Brazil. The effects of age, education, and sex on PD-CRS scores were explored. The instrument was tested in 714 individuals (53% female, 21-94 years), with a broad range of education and no neurodegenerative disorder. Trail Making, Consonant Trigrams, Five-Point, and semantic fluency tests were administered for comparison. A second study enrolled patients with PD and intact cognition (n=44, 59.75 ± 10.79 years) and with PD-MCI (n=25, 65.76 ± 10.33 years) to investigate criterion validity. PD-CRS subtests were compared with the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Battery memory and executive tasks. PD-CRS was unidimensional and reliable (McDonald's ω=0.83). Using robust multiple regressions, age, and education predicted the total and derived scores in the normative sample. At the 85-point cutoff, PD-MCI was detected with 68% sensitivity and 86% specificity (area under the curve=0.870). PD-CRS scores strongly correlated with executive and verbal/visual memory tests in both normative and clinical samples. This study investigated the applicability of PD-CRS in the Brazilian context. The scale seems helpful in screening for PD-MCI, with adequate internal consistency and construct validity. The PD-CRS variance is influenced by age and educational level, a critical issue for cognitive testing in countries with educational and cultural heterogeneity.