Depressed mood and executive dysfunction in early Parkinson's disease.
OBJECTIVE
Studies on neuropsychological functions in early Parkinson's disease (PD) have reported changes with respect to memory and executive control related to dysfunction of fronto-striatal circuitry. The question has been raised, however, whether these findings are at least partly influenced by depression, which as such can also lead to cognitive impairments that depend on the functional integrity of the prefrontal cortex.


METHODS
In the present investigation early non-depressed PD patients (NPD), early PD patients with mild depressive symptoms (DPD), patients with primary depression (DEP) and healthy controls (HC) completed a range of neuropsychological tests.


RESULTS
Group comparisons revealed impairments of DPD patients in comparison with HC with respect to verbal fluency, short-term memory and concept formation. In addition they showed mild working-memory deficits.


CONCLUSIONS
In summary the present results indicate that depressed mood in early PD may exacerbate cognitive impairments. Thus careful assessment of affective variables in PD should be an integral part of the treatment of PD.
Uekermann
J
J
Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany. jennifer.uekermann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Daum
I
I
Peters
S
S
Wiebel
B
B
Przuntek
H
H
Müller
T
T
D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index