The longitudinal associations between cognition, mood and striatal dopaminergic binding in Parkinson's Disease

Cognitive decline and mood symptoms are common in Parkinson's disease (PD). Reductions in striatal dopaminergic binding have been associated with worse cognition and mood. We investigated whether this association persists throughout the disease progression in newly diagnosed PD. Four-year data from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) were used. Groups consisted of left and right limb dominantly affected PD patients, and controls. Longitudinal relationships between cognition, mood and striatal binding ratios were assessed by repeated measures correlations. Reduced binding was associated with general cognitive decline in controls, reduced processing speed and increased mood symptoms in PD. Anxiety was associated with striatum only in left limb dominantly affected PD. Dominantly affected limb side did not impact striatum and cognition association. There are longitudinal associations between striatum, processing speed and anxiety. Dopamine transporter availability imaging may have some prognostic value for cognition and mood in PD.