Clinical Markers May Identify Patients at Risk for Early Parkinson's Disease Dementia: A Prospective Study

The study aims at identifying features predictive of early onset of dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD).

103 non-demented PD patients were evaluated on various scales at baseline and 89 patients at 3-year follow-up.

By the end of the study 43.8% of patients developed dementia. The development of dementia was linked to the baseline Mini Mental State Examination score (Pearson coefficient r = .404, p = 0.013), the presence of autonomic dysfunctions (r = -.621, p < 0.001) and insomnia (r = -.526, p = 0.001). A binary logistic regression analysis showed that the development of dementia was correlated strongly with the presence of autonomic dysfunctions (95% CI 2.60 to 52.83, p < 0.001), and insomnia (95% CI 0.60 to 0.95, p = 0.017).

Patients with signs of autonomic dysfunction and insomnia are at higher risk for developing dementia and deserve closer monitoring of cognitive symptoms.