Objective: Investigate to clarify the relation between social interaction and cognition in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: In old age, social isolation, such as participating in few activities with others or having a small social network and so on, has been related with increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline. But in patients with PD, this relation is not investigated.

Methods: Subjects were 23 patients with PD(male: female=11:12 mean age 68.6 years old, disease duration 7.9±6.8 years, MMSE28.0±2.0, Yahr2.7±0.8). We examined: 1) loneliness and social interaction with UCLA Loneliness Scale and Index of social interaction. 2) cognitive function with MMSE and FAB. 3) the severity, non-motor symptoms and QOL with Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), UPDRS and PDQ39. We assessed the correlation of above.

Results: The mean score of UCLA Loneliness Scale was 37.2 (42.2 in previous study of the elderly in Japan). In Index of social interaction the mean scores separated by age were at roughly the same level in previous study. Ex) the mean score of 75-79years old female was 14.7±2.9 (14.6±2.4 in previous study). Those scales had no correlation with age and duration. There was no correlation between UCLA scale and all remaining scales. Index of social interaction was associated with MMSE (p=.005) and PDQ39 (p=.010).

Conclusions: There were not important differences between patients with PD and the elderly in loneliness and social interaction. In patients with PD the amount of social activity rather than the subjective loneliness related to cognitive function and QOL. We will investigate our battery for larger number of cases hereafter.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/social-interaction-and-cognition-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/