Laterality, region, and type of motor dysfunction correlate with cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease

• Published in: Movement disorders Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 141 - 144
• Main Authors: Williams, Lindsy N., Seignourel, Paul, Crucian, Gregory P., Okun, Michael S., Rodriguez, Ramon L., Skidmore, Frank M., Foster, Paul S., Jacobson IV, Charles E., Romrell, Janet, Bowers, Dawn, Fernandez, Hubert H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.01.2007; Wiley
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; bradykinesia; cognition; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; dementia; Disability Evaluation; Female; Functional Laterality - physiology; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Status Schedule; Middle Aged; motor; Multiple sclerosis and variants. Guillain barré syndrome and other inflammatory polyneuropathies. Leukoencephalitis; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Parkinson Disease - complications; Parkinson's disease; postural instability; Severity of Illness Index; Statistics as Topic; motor; Nervous system diseases; Cognitive disorder; Parkinson's disease; Parkinson disease; Cognition; bradykinesia; postural instability; Cerebral disorder; Central nervous system disease; Instability; Degenerative disease; Laterality; Extrapyramidal syndrome; Dementia
• ISSN: 0885-3185; 1531-8257
• DOI: 10.1002/mds.21220

We studied the relationship between two screening cognitive measures and off motor Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) scores in 108 Parkinson's disease patients. Multiple regressions were conducted to examine the UPDRS subscores' unique contributions to cognitive function. When including bradykinesia, rigidity, and postural/gait instability subscores, only bradykinesia predicted Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE), normalized β = −0.57, t(104) = −3.31, P < 0.01, and Dementia Rating Scale‐2 (DRS‐2), normalized β = −0.45, t(104) = −2.55, P < 0.05. Tremor was not included in the regression analyses because it did not correlate with cognitive function. When including axial and appendicular subscores, only the axial subscore predicted MMSE, normalized β = −0.39, t(105) = −3.19, P < 0.01, and DRS‐2 scores, normalized β = −0.40, t(106) = −3.28, P < 0.01. When including left‐sided and right‐sided subscores, only the right‐sided symptoms predicted DRS‐2 scores, normalized β = −0.28, t(105) = −2.45, P < 0.05, and showed a trend toward predicting MMSE scores, normalized β = −0.22, t(105) = −1.95, P = 0.054. We therefore found that right‐sided symptoms (for laterality), axial symptoms (for region), and bradykinesia (for type of symptoms) were thebest predictors of cognitive function. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society