title: Italian version of the Parkinson Neuropsychometric Dementia Assessment (PANDA): a useful instrument to detect cognitive impairments in Parkinson's Disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parkinson's disease (PD) is frequently characterized by cognitive and affective dysfunctions. The "Parkinson Neuropsychometric Dementia Assessment" (PANDA) is a screening tool designed for the early detection of mild cognitive impairment as well as dementia in PD. The PANDA is already validated in German and in French.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present work was to provide normative data for the Italian-speaking population, Swiss regions included; moreover, the effectiveness of the PANDA compared to the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was tested.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred and eleven PD patients with and without cognitive impairment and one-hundred and three matched healthy subjects participated at this study; all patients underwent an extensive neuropsychological evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A PANDA total score of 13 appeared to be the most fitting cut-off with a sensitivity of 96.6% and a specificity of 82.2%; with the MMSE, the same value of sensitivity but with a specificity of 72,4% was reached only by adopting a cut-off of 28. Moreover, a PANDA range of 13-17 appeared to be suggestive for possible cognitive disturbance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present work provides evidence for the effectiveness of the PANDA in evaluating cognitive deficits also in PD Italian-speaking patients, even when their pathological degree is still initial or very mild.
authors.affiliation: Neurocentro della Svizzera Italiana, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Lugano, TI, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pignatti
authors.affiliation: Unità operativa di neuropsicologia e logopedia, Clinica Hildebrand, Centro di Riabilitazione Brissago, TI, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bertella
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychology, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Piancavallo, VB, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scarpina
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology and Neuro-Rehabilitation, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Piancavallo, VB, Italy Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mauro
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Portolani
authors.affiliation: Division of molecular and cognitive neuroscience, University of Basel, BS, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calabrese
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D014177:Translations
keywords: Parkinson's disease; cognitive impairment; dementia; neuropsychological test