Objective: To assess cognitive impairment and cortisol levels in PD in a 14-month cohort study.

Background: Cognitive impairment is one of the most common non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Efforts are being made to identify potential biomarkers associated to elevated risk of developing cognitive symptoms in patients diagnosed with the PD.

Method: In this cohort study, 65 patients diagnosed with PD using the London Brain Bank criteria were assessed twice, at month 1 and month 14. They were divided into two groups: (1) with cognitive decline, or (2) without cognitive decline at follow-up, according to the presence of impairment assessed by the MoCA test in relation to baseline. Cortisol levels and clinical features were compared between groups.

Results: The 65 PD patients aged 63.44 ± 9.96 years. ​There was no significant difference between the MoCA baseline and follow-up scores when all patients were evaluated. In the group of patients that showed cognitive decline , the main impairments were observed in executive functions (p <0.001), delayed recall (p = 0.004) and orientation (p = 0.004). There was a reduction in serum cortisol levels in PD patients at the follow-up (p = 0.021), but that was not related with cognitive decline , as no significant difference was found between the serum cortisol levels in the decline (p=0.084) and no decline (p = 0.182) groups after follow-up.

Conclusion: Executive functions, delayed recall and orientation were the main cognitive domains to decline in one year study.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/a-prospective-cohort-study-of-cognitive-impairment-and-cortisol-levels-in-parkinsons-disease/