Parkinson's disease mild cognitive impairment: application and validation of the criteria

Dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD) is a serious health issue and a major concern for many patients. In most cases mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a transitional stage between normal cognitive functioning and dementia which is of potential importance in the early identification of patients at risk for dementia. Recently, the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) proposed diagnostic criteria for MCI in PD (PD-MCI). These criteria comprise two operationalizations: Level I (based on an abbreviated assessment) and Level II (based on comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation permitting MCI subtyping). These criteria need to be validated. This paper describes a project aiming to validate the MDS PD-MCI criteria by pooling and analyzing cross-sectional and longitudinal neuropsychological databases comprising ≥5,500 PD patients and ≥1,700 controls. After applying the MDS PD-MCI Level I and Level II criteria, rates of conversion to PD-dementia and predictive variables for conversion to PD-dementia will be established. This study will also assist in identifying whether revisions of the PD-MCI criteria are required.