Objective: To determine the differences in impulsive personality traits between patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Impulsivity is a multifaceted construct with attentional, non-planning, and motor domains that each manifests as unique cognitive and behavioral tendencies. Often resulting in negative interpersonal consequences and decreased quality of life, impulsive behaviors were previously described as non-motor symptoms of CA and PD. However, the combination of impulsive traits that underlie these patterns of risky behavior has not yet been directly compared between these two clinical populations. Specifically, it is unknown whether CA and PD patients have distinct, domain-specific trait impulsivity. A better understanding of these differences could provide critical insight into the neural circuits by which the cerebellum and basal ganglia influence impulsivity.

Method: We conducted a two-center cross-sectional study that included a total of 180 subjects: 90 controls, 40 CA cases, and 50 PD cases. The Barratt impulsivity scale (BIS-11) was used to assess trait impulsivity and its three dissociable domains: 1) attentional impulsivity, 2) non-planning impulsivity, and 3) motor impulsivity. All participants completed the BIS-11 questionnaire and we performed one-way analyses of variance followed by Tukey’s post hoc tests to compare the total and subscale BIS-11 scores between CA cases, PD cases, and controls.

Results: Both CA and PD cases have higher average total BIS-11 scores than controls (59.8 ± 9.5 in CA cases vs. 54.5 ± 7.6 in controls, p = 0.002; 68.1 ± 7.8 in PD cases vs. 54.5 ± 7.6 in controls, p < 0.001). PD cases report a greater total score than CA cases on average (p < 0.001). For BIS-11 subscale scores, PD cases exhibit increased trait impulsivity across all three domains whereas CA cases demonstrate non-planning domain-specific trait impulsivity.

Conclusion: Heightened impulsivity is seen in both CA and PD. While PD cases have trait impulsivity across all domains, CA cases have domain-specific trait impulsivity in the non-planning category only. The present study demonstrates the diverse forms of impulsivity that can occur across different neurological disorders.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/distinct-impulsive-traits-in-cerebellar-ataxia-and-parkinsons-disease/