[Analysis of sustained attention in patients with Parkinson's disease being treated with dopamine precursors]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative disorder with a predominance of motor symptoms at the beginning. However, cognitive symptoms, such as executive functions, visuo-spatial abilities, language or attention, could be also impaired in an early phase of this disease.

We analyzed the attentional deficits in patients with a moderate PD. In addition, we studied the performance of participants for a on and off periods of levodopa in plasma.

Parkinson group: 20 patients with moderates PD (according to Hoehn & Yahr scale) were used.

14 healthy participants. Both groups performed a sustained attention test based on oddball task. RESULTS. The percentage of correct responses of the control group was significantly higher than of the PD group. There were no significant differences between the on and off periods in the PD group.

Moderate PD patients showed an impairment of the ability to maintain attention. In addition, they displayed a deficit to adjust flexibly their behaviors to the environmental requirements. This attentional disability could be explained by the progressive dopamine depletion associated with the development of areas affected by PD.