Objective: To follow clinical/cognitive and cortical thickness (CT) changes in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with stable apathy (PD-sAp), without apathy (PD-noAp), and patients who developed apathy (PD-cAp) during 3 year follow up.

Background: Apathy can influence the disease progression in PD.

Method: We selected 96 patients with known apathy outcome at the initial exam or during 3 years of follow-up and 46 age- and sex-matched controls. We identified 37 PD-sAp, 33 PD-noAp, 26 PD-cAp patients. Patients and controls underwent clinical/neuropsychological evaluations and 3D T1-weighted MRI scans at baseline. Patients performed evaluations also once a year for 3 years. CT at baseline and over time was investigated within and between groups adjusting for age, disease severity, global cognition and mood.

Results: At baseline, PD-cAp patients had higher age at disease onset relative to PD-noAp and lower disease severity and shorter disease duration relative to other patient groups. At baseline, the PD-sAp and PD-cAp groups showed worse memory abilities relative to PD-noAp. Over time, apathy worsened significantly every year in the PD-cAp group only. At baseline, PD-sAp patients showed cortical atrophy of bilateral fronto-temporo-parietal areas relative to controls and of left anterior cingulate and superior temporal gyri compared to the other patient groups. PD-sAp did not accumulate further cortical damage over time. A greater progression of cortical thinning of the right superior temporal, inferior frontal and parietal regions was observed in PD-cAp relative to PD-noAp patients.

Conclusion: This study assessed the longitudinal cortical alteration associated with apathy in PD. We suggested that PD-sAp and PD-cAp are characterized by similar cognitive profile already in the early phase of the disease and by a similar pattern of cortical alterations over time, involving the right superior temporal, inferior frontal and parietal regions.Supported by: Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Serbia (Grant #175090).

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/longitudinal-cortical-changes-associated-with-apathy-in-parkinsons-disease/