Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes in cognitive function and frontal lobe function in PD before and after self-restraint due to the COVID-19 epidemic were examined using a verbal fluency task(VF).

Background: 140 outpatient PD patients (60males,80females,with Yahr’s severity scale were around Ⅲ). The survey period was from January 2019 to March 2020 before refraining from going out due to the COVID-19 epidemic:phase1,and from April 2020 to October 2021 after refraining from going out:phase2.

Method: The MMSE test as a cognitive function test,and the VF as a frontal lobe function test consist of the initials “a”,”ka”,and”shi”,and the categories “animals,”jobs”and”sports”. We analyzed the changes in cognitive function and the frontal lobe function before and after the COVID-19 epidemic using nonparametric tests.

Results: 1.Average and standard deviation values about MMSE and VF in phase 1:

1]In the lexical fluency task, “a” was 8.5±3.9 (points), “ka” was 10.4±4.5, “shi” was 7.3±3.6, “animal” was 14.1±5.1, “jobs” was 9.6±4.0, and”sports” was 10.9±4.1. The criteria were based on the frontal lobe function test: 10 lower limits of normal “ka” in the lexical fluency task at FAB.

2]The MMSE result was 27.8±2.3.

2. Average and standard deviation values about MMSE and VF in phase 2

1]In the lexical fluency task, “a” was 8.0±4.1 (points), “ka” was 9.6±4.5, “shi” was 6.9±3.9, “animal” was 13.5±5.0, “jobs” was 9.0±4.2, and “sports” was 10.2±4.4.

2]The MMSE result was 27.3±2.9.

3.Difference between phase 1 and phase 2

Among VF: “a” (p-value: 0.020), “ka” (0.003), “jobs” (0.012), “animal” (0.044),and “Sports” (0.025) had a significantly reduced in scores before and after refraining from going out. The difference between the remaining “shi” (0.051) and MMSE (0.057) was not significant.

Conclusion: Most VF showed decline before and after self-restraint. This result suggests the in fluence of self-restraint due to the decline of social activity influenced by COVID-19 epidemic. The study was done mealy among the two years in COVID-19, showed that there is a correlation between VF and self-restraint. It is necessary to pay attention to future changes in cognitive functions especially the change of the frontal lobe function in decline social activities among the self-restraint periods. We believe that some kind of encouragement is necessary to maintain good social activities.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/changes-in-word-fluency-tasks-and-cognitive-function-before-and-after-the-covid-19-epidemic-in-patients-with-parkinsons-diseasepd/