Category: Parkinson's Disease: Cognitive functions
Objective: To examine the characteristics of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
Background: Cognitive disturbances in PD detrimentally impact the patient’s quality of life and contribute to a high disease burden. PD patients with MCI, a prodromal state to PD dementia, present with heterogeneous clinical characteristics that can complicate the clinical picture. This study aimed to examine the characteristics of PD-MCI by using level 2 of the standardised criteria for PD-MCI. This study also examined the effectiveness of global cognitive scales in identifying PD-MCI.
Method: Seventy-nine (79) PD patients participated in two interviews consisting of neuropsychological assessments and a comprehensive cognitive test battery. Clinical characteristics of PD-MCI were evaluated using logistic regression analyses. Commonly used cognitive rating scales, Mini-Mental State Examination (sMMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Parkinson’s Disease Cognitive Rating Scale (PDCRS), were examined against a PD-MCI identification.
Results: Twenty-seven (27) patients met criteria for PD-MCI (34%). Impairment in multiple cognitive domains was observed in 77.8% of patients with PD-MCI. There was no significant difference in the demographic and clinical characteristics between PD-MCI and PD without MCI, except that PD-MCI patients consisted of a greater number of male patients. Our study demonstrated that the the MoCA and PDCRS can be potentially used as appropriate screening tools, but with a cost of low specificity.
Conclusion: PD patients with MCI exhibited impairments in a wide range of cognitive domains particularly in the attention/working memory, executive function and memory domains. Considering the heterogeneous cognitive characteristics of PD-MCI, further investigation within specific cognitive domains is essential for understanding PD-MCI.
This abstract was submitted to NHMRC Australian Dementia Forum 2020 (31 May – 2 June 2020)
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J. Yang, E. Forbes, D. Pourzinal, K. McMahon, D. Copland, G. Byrne, J. O'Sullivan, L. Mitchell, N. Dissanayaka. Identification and clinical characteristics of Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2020; 35 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/identification-and-clinical-characteristics-of-mild-cognitive-impairment-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/identification-and-clinical-characteristics-of-mild-cognitive-impairment-in-parkinsons-disease/