A study of cognitive functions in young Parkinsonian patients

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the neuropsychological performance of younger Parkinson's disease (PD) patients compared to healthy controls. A group of young optimally treated PD patients younger than 56 years was pair-matched with a group of healthy controls for age, social class and the two WAIS subtests "vocabulary" and "similarities". As a group, the PD patients were satisfactory in verbal logical intelligence, but evaluation of neuropsychological tests showed difficulties in short memory span, constructional function and logical visual sequential cognition. Young PD patients have some cognitive impairment for which they are able to compensate for a time because of preserved intelligence. More attention should be paid to possible problems in their jobs and social life.