A longitudinal study of neuropsychological change in individuals with Parkinson's disease.
Neuropsychological changes in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) were studied longitudinally. Sixty-nine idiopathic PD patients, with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores falling within normal range, and 37 elderly control participants were given neuropsychological tests twice approximately two years apart. The PD group performed poorer than the control group on Semantic Fluency, Letter Fluency, Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and Block Design at test time 1. Two years later, the PD group showed significant decline in Semantic and Letter Fluency. A subset of 12 PD patients declined in mental status by second testing (> or =4 MMSE points). Cox proportional-hazards models were used to see if any baseline measures were associated with relative risk of decline in mental status. In the final model, Repetition performance and Age were significantly associated with cognitive decline. Consistent with previous studies, executive function tasks were those most susceptible to disease progression.
Azuma
Tamiko
T
Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0102, USA. azuma@asu.edu
Cruz
Robyn F
RF
Bayles
Kathryn A
KA
Tomoeda
Cheryl K
CK
Montgomery
Erwin B
EB
D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000209:etiology