Investigating underlying brain structures and influence of mild and subjective cognitive impairment on dual-task performance in people with Parkinson's disease

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 9513
• Main Authors: Albrecht, Franziska, Johansson, Hanna, Ekman, Urban, Poulakis, Konstantinos, Bezuidenhout, Lucian, Pereira, Joana B, Franzén, Erika
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 25.04.2024; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Aged; Brain; Brain - physiopathology; Cerebellum; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - physiopathology; Female; Gait; Gait - physiology; Gray Matter - diagnostic imaging; Gray Matter - pathology; Gray Matter - physiopathology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Mild cognitive impairment; Movement disorders; Neurodegenerative diseases; Nucleus basalis; Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; Parkinson Disease - psychology; Parkinson's disease; Prefrontal cortex; Reaction Time - physiology; Reaction time task; Regression analysis; Regression models; Step-time; Subjective cognitive impairment; Substantia grisea; Task Performance and Analysis; Variability; Cerebellum; Step-time; Mild cognitive impairment; Parkinson’s disease; Subjective cognitive impairment
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60050-5

Cognitive impairment can affect dual-task abilities in Parkinson's disease (PD), but it remains unclear whether this is also driven by gray matter alterations across different cognitive classifications. Therefore, we investigated associations between dual-task performance during gait and functional mobility and gray matter alterations and explored whether these associations differed according to the degree of cognitive impairment. Participants with PD were classified according to their cognitive function with 22 as mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), 14 as subjective cognitive impairment (PD-SCI), and 20 as normal cognition (PD-NC). Multiple regression models associated dual-task absolute and interference values of gait speed, step-time variability, and reaction time, as well as dual-task absolute and difference values for Timed Up and Go (TUG) with PD cognitive classification. We repeated these regressions including the nucleus basalis of Meynert, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. We additionally explored whole-brain regressions with dual-task measures to identify dual-task-related regions. There was a trend that cerebellar alterations were associated with worse TUG dual-task in PD-SCI, but also with higher dual-task gait speed and higher dual-task step-time variability in PD-NC. After multiple comparison corrections, no effects of interest were significant. In summary, no clear set of variables associated with dual-task performance was found that distinguished between PD cognitive classifications in our cohort. Promising but non-significant trends, in particular regarding the TUG dual-task, do however warrant further investigation in future large-scale studies.