Early impairment of cognitive functions in Parkinson's disease
Florindo Stella1, Lilian T B Gobbi, Sebastião Gobbi
1Neuropsychiatry and Mental Health for Elderly, State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil. fstella@rc.unesp.br
Background:
Impairment in non-motor functions such as disturbances of some executive functions are also common events in Parkinson's disease patients.
Objective:
To verify the performance of Parkinson's disease patients in activities requiring visuoconstructive and visuospatial skills.
Method:
Thirty elderly patients with mild or moderate stages of Parkinson's disease were studied. The assessment of the clinical condition was based on the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (56.28; SD=33.48), Hoehn and Yahr (2.2; SD=0.83), Schwab and England (78.93%), clock drawing test (7.36; SD=2.51), and mini-mental state examination (26.48; SD=10.11). Pearson's correlation and stepwise multiple regression were used for statistical analyses.
Results:
The patients presented deterioration in visuospatial and visuoconstructive skills.
Conclusion:
The clock drawing test proved to be a useful predictive tool for identifying early cognitive impairment in these individuals.
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