Objective: To analyzed the association of cognitive status (CS) and mobility performance in dual task conditions in Parkinson’s disease patients (PDP) and to assess the pattern of prioritization of tasks.

Background: Loss of automaticity, decreased cognitive resources and impaired capacity to share attention among concurrent tasks are associated with worse performance in dual task. Previous studies suggested that falls of PDP could be related with wrong strategies of prioritizations, in which patients prioritize cognitive task rather than balance.

Methods: 14 individuals with idiopathic PD on stages 1 to 3 of Hoehn & Yahr scale, both genders, mean age of 68.7 [standard deviation (SD 7.4)], mean score of 15.6 (SD 6.7) on section III of Unified PD rating scale and 28.0 (SD 1.8) on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Performance of patients was assessed in single and dual task condition through the Timed up and go test (TUG), Sit-to-stand test (SST) and 10 meters walk test (T10W), during on period of dopaminergic replacement. The secondary task was verbal fluency (VF), that was assessed in a sitting position during 30 seconds (single task) and in association with the primary tasks (dual task). In order to compare the VF in single and dual task, the number of words talked was divided by the task execution time. CS was assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Descriptive values (Table 1) and inferential analysis were performed using Student t test for paired samples comparing single and dual task performance (SST and TUG). Finally, in order to investigate the correlation among CS and the decreased performance caused by dual task, it was used the Pearson (TUG and SST) and Spearman (T10W). It was adopted α of 0.05.

Results: There was no correlation among the decreased performance in dual task and MoCA score [SST: (r = – 0.424; p=0.13); TUG: (r= 0.315; p = 0.27); T10W: (r = -0.26; p= 0.36)]. All primary tasks showed worse performance in dual task condition (P=0.05). Secondary task performance decrease only during the T10W (P=0.001).

Conclusions: There was no correlation between cognitive status and the decreased performance in dual task in early stages PDP. All primary task showed worse performance in dual task. VF was affected just during walking. Patients prioritize cognitive task rather than postural control, but there was no prioritization during gait.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/association-between-cognitive-status-and-mobility-performance-in-dual-task-condition-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/