Cognitive impairment on the Alzheimer's Disease Centers' Uniform Data Set Version 3 Neuropsychological Test Battery...

Research on the cognitive profile in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) has been scarce in Latin America.

To outline the demographic, clinical, and cognitive profile of Peruvian PSP patients living in Lima, Peru. We sought to determine the relationship between first clinical symptoms and specific cognitive abilities.

A cross-sectional study of 34 PSP subjects. We used the Uniform Data Set Version 3 Neuropsychological Battery (UDS3-NB), which possesses normative data for the Peruvian population, to assess global and specific cognitive functions. We also performed correlation analyses to determine the relationship between presenting clinical symptoms (parkinsonism, postural instability, and cognitive impairment) and cognitive functioning.

The mean age was 68 years, and mean schooling was 12.1 years in this cohort. The most common initial clinical symptom was parkinsonism (55.9%), followed by postural instability (23.5%) and dementia (20.6%). Our cohort showed poor performance on global cognition, with selective impairment of processing speed, executive function, and episodic memory. Attentional and visuospatial skills were mildly affected, with partial preservation of naming. There was no significant relationship between the initial clinical symptoms and global cognition, except for a slight correlation between parkinsonism and visuospatial function (r = 0.18; p < 0.05).

We found that PSP patients in Peru had extensive impairment in executive function, processing speed, and episodic memory, with relatively preserved naming, consistent with other international cohorts. We did not find a correlation between initial clinical signs and cognitive profile, suggesting that an interdisciplinary approach is needed to evaluate patients with suspicion for PSP. Longitudinal studies are needed to more clearly define the progression of neuropsychiatric symptoms in PSP patients.