Objective: The aim of our study was to identify more homogenous profiles of patients with Parkinson´s disease (PD) without cognitive decline and to compare language abilities with cognitive profiles in patients with PD.

Background: PD is a neurodegenerative disorder of unknown etiology, characterized also by non-motor symptoms, including cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive changes are heterogeneous and  impairment in different cognitive domains can be present even in the early stages of the disease. Production of both action verbs and nouns is affected in PD patients.

Method: We enrolled 81 patients with idiopathic PD without dementia with the mean age 60.6±9.51 years; duration of disease 5.65±4 years, H&Y stage 2.0±0.5 and total MDS-UPDRS part III 30.6±11.25. Neuropsychological battery involved tests evaluating all cognitive domains, was administered in order to identify various cognitive impairment profiles. Cluster analyses was utilized for identification of subgroups of patients. To assess lexical retrieval of nouns and verbs, The Object and Action Naming Test (OANT) was administered.

Results: We identified five cognitive profiles. The first (n=11) was characterized with impairment in all cognitive domains, the second (n=12) showed dominant deficits in memory, attention and working memory, language and executive functions. The third (n=28) included patients with impaired phonemic fluency with other domains intact. Attention, semantic fluency and visuospatial function was declined in the fourth profile(n=13). The fifth (n=17) was without any impairments. In lexical retrieval of nouns there was significant decline in performance in group with impairment in all cognitive domains in comparison to group with dominant deficit in phonemic fluency and other domains intact (p = 0.03) and to group without deterioration in cognitive domains (p = 0.05). Equally, significantly worse score in verb retrieval was in the group with impairment in all cognitive domains in comparison to group with relatively intact cognitive profile (p = 0.05), and to the group with marked deficit in phonemic fluency (p = 0.03).

Conclusion: Identification of cognitive profiles seem to be very essential for selection the most appropriate approach in management of PD patients. Language impairment is closely related to cognitive decline and it is important to detect subtle language deficits to improve diagnosing and to provide early interventions.

References: Bocanegra Y, Garcia AM, Pineda D, Buritica O, Villegas A, Lopera F, et al. Syntax, action verbs, action semantics, and object semantics in Parkinson’s disease: Dissociability, progression, and executive influences. Cortex. 2015 Aug;69:237–54.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/object-and-action-naming-test-in-cognitive-subtypes-in-nondemented-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/