Objective: Investigate relationship between cognitive performance and mobility in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Persons with PD experience both motor and non-motor symptoms. Two of the most disabling of these symptoms are balance dysfunction and cognitive impairment[1]. Prior research suggests that PD patients with cognitive impairment may be at higher risk for balance disfunction as well[2].

Method: This is a cross-sectional analysis of sixty PD participants evaluated with a comprehensive gait and balance assessment and a Level II comprehensive neurocognitive battery as defined by the MDS Task Force on PD-mild cognitive impairment[3]. Gait and balance assessments included the Mini-BESTest (balance), maximum walking speed (gait), and timed up and go (TUG) (mobility).  Scores for individual cognitive tests were used to calculate a normalized (z-) score based on normative values. Individual test z-scores were averaged within each cognitive domain to obtain a domain score, and domain scores were averaged to determine the Composite Cognitive Score (global cognition). Correlations between cognitive performance and balance were evaluated with Pearson correlation coefficients. To account for multiple comparisons, significance was considered as p<0.01.

Results: There were significant (p<0.001) correlations between global cognitive performance and balance (mini-BESTest), gait (maximum walking speed), and mobility (TUG). At the level of cognitive domains, executive function and processing speed were correlated with gait, balance, and mobility; language was correlated with balance and mobility; and attention/working memory was correlated with mobility and gait. Visuospatial function and memory domains were not significantly correlated with balance, gait, or mobility.

Conclusion: Cognitive performance, particularly in domains of executive function and processing speed, may serve as a marker of risk for gait and balance dysfunction. Identification of cognitive dysfunction should prompt consideration of rehabilitation interventions for gait and balance.

References: 1. Leroi I, McDonald K, Pantula H, Harbishettar V: Cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease: impact on quality of life, disability, and caregiver burden. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2012, 25(4):208-214. 2. Pal G, O’Keefe J, Robertson-Dick E, Bernard B, Anderson S, Hall D: Global cognitive function and processing speed are associated with gait and balance dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. J Neuroeng Rehabil 2016, 13(1):94. 3. Litvan I, Goldman JG, Troster AI, Schmand BA, Weintraub D, Petersen RC, Mollenhauer B, Adler CH, Marder K, Williams-Gray CH et al: Diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease: Movement Disorder Society Task Force guidelines. Mov Disord 2012, 27(3):349-356.

« Back to 2019 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/relationship-between-cognitive-performance-and-mobility-in-parkinsons-disease/