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Progression of motor and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease

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Abstract

We performed a longitudinal study (mean follow-up 86.7 months) to evaluate motor and mental deterioration in patients with Parkinson's disease. Of the original 91 patients, only 61 could be re-examined 7 years later and 11 of these had become demented (PD-Dems). PD-Dems were older with worse motor and, obviously, cognitive performance than non-demented parkinsonian patients (PDs). A global cognitive decay index (DI) was calculated for each patient. Based on this, non-demented PDs were further split into 38 stable parkinsonian patients (S-PDs) with DI -30% to +30%, and 10 deteriorated but non-demented parkinsonian patients (D-PDs) with a DI worse than -30% (as had PD-Dems). D-PDs were older and had greater motor impairment than S-PDs but did not differ from PD-Dems on these measures. D-PDs and PD-Dems deteriorated especially in attention, visuospatial and executive ability tests. Ageing seems to be the main predictive factor for mental deterioration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale Neurologico “C. Besta”, 1-20133, Milan, Italy

    E. Palazzini, P. Soliveri, G. Filippini, V. Fetoni, B. Zappacosta, G. Scigliano, D. Monza, T. Caraceni & F. Girotti

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  1. E. Palazzini
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  2. P. Soliveri
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  3. G. Filippini
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  4. V. Fetoni
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  5. B. Zappacosta
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  6. G. Scigliano
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  7. D. Monza
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  8. T. Caraceni
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  9. F. Girotti
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Palazzini, E., Soliveri, P., Filippini, G. et al. Progression of motor and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease. J Neurol 242, 535–540 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00867426

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00867426

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