Cognitive changes in Parkinson's disease patients with visual hallucinations.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the decline in specific neuropsychological functions in nondemented Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with a history of visual hallucinations (VH).


METHODS
Twenty PD patients with VH, 20 PD patients without VH and 18 normal controls were followed up over a 1-year period and assessed for cognitive decline.


RESULTS
Forty-five percent of nondemented hallucinating PD patients developed dementia during the 1-year period between baseline and follow-up evaluations. Of the nondemented hallucinating PD patients nearly 70% showed impairment in multiple cognitive domains. The progressive decline in hallucinating PD patients affected mainly visual memory for faces and visuoperceptive-visuospatial functions.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results support a fast impairment of complex visual functions in hallucinating PD patients, but also a progressive decline in multiple cognitive domains, which have been identified as a risk of developing dementia in PD.
Ramirez-Ruiz
Blanca
B
Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Junque
Carme
C
Marti
Maria-Jose
MJ
Valldeoriola
Francesc
F
Tolosa
Eduardo
E
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception