Objective: To examine the relationship between cognitive and motor functioning among people with Parkinson disease (PD).

Background: PD is a disabling, chronic condition affecting both motor and cognitive abilities. There is evidence these two domains may be associated, with poorer cognitive ability associated with mobility impairments and functional decline.

Method: Seventy-two people with PD who enrolled in a walking and exercise study completed baseline evaluations. Cognitive measures consisted of the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) total score, Trail Making Test (TMT) A & B time, and the National Institutes of Health Dimensional Card Sorting Test (DCST) age-adjusted standard score. Motor measures included the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale Part 3 (MDS-UPDRS-III) total score, Mini-Balance Evaluations Systems Test (MBT) total score, New Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (NFOG) total score, 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT) distance, and 10 Meter Walk Test (10MWT) speed at comfortable and fast paces. Daily steps were recorded using a StepWatch Activity Monitor over a seven-day period. Pearson correlation coefficients are reported for normal distributions and Spearman’s for skewed distributions (MMSE, NFOG).

Results: This sample was 42% female with a mean age of 67.6 (SD = 8.7). MMSE was correlated with MDS-UPDRS-III (r =-.31, p = .009), MBT (r = .25, p = .04), 6MWT (r = .27, p = .02), 10MWT comfortable (r = .26, p = .03), and 10MWT fast (r = .30, p = .01). TMT-A was correlated with MDS-UPDRS-III (r = .46, p < .0001), MBT (r = -.49, p < .0001), NFOG (r = .25, p = .03), 10MWT comfortable (r = -.31, p = .009), and 10MWT fast (r = -.33, p = .004). TMT-B was correlated with MDS-UPDRS-III (r = .53, p < .0001), MBT (r = -.39, p = .001), and 10MWT comfortable (r = -.26, p = .03). DCST was not correlated with any of the motor measures.

Conclusion: Among this sample, better performance on motor measures correlated with better performance on global cognition (MMSE) and executive functioning (TMT), but not cognitive flexibility (DCST). The cognitive tests did not correlate with real-world walking performance measured with the stepwatch. Future analyses will examine how motor and cognitive functioning change over time during this walking and exercise intervention.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/is-cognitive-performance-related-to-motor-performance-among-people-with-parkinson-disease/