scholarly journals The Impact of Sex on the Neurocognitive Functions of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1331
Author(s):  
Mei-Ling Chen ◽  
Chun-Hsiang Tan ◽  
Hui-Chen Su ◽  
Pi-Shan Sung ◽  
Chia-Yi Chien ◽  
...  

This study aimed to understand the impact of sex on the neurocognitive function of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Ninety-four participants with idiopathic PD and 167 age-matched healthy individuals as normal controls (NCs) were recruited and underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessments. Sex differences were found in NCs, but not in patients with PD. Among male participants, patients with PD showed worse performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS) (p < 0.001) test and Symbol Search (SS) (p < 0.001) than NCs. Among female participants, patients with PD showed worse performance on the category score of the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (p < 0.001), SS (p < 0.001), and pentagon copying (p < 0.001) than NCs. After controlling for the effects of age and years of education, Hoehn and Yahr stage was found to predict the performance of the Color Trails Test part A (βA = 0.241, pA = 0.036), Stroop Color and Word Test (β = −0.245, p = 0.036), and DSS (β = −0.258, p = 0.035) in men with PD. These results indicate the differential effect of sex on the neurocognitive function among healthy aging and PD populations. The disappearance of sex differences, which is present in healthy aging, in patients with PD suggests a gradual loss of the neuroprotective effect of estrogen after the initiation of the neurodegenerative process. This study also found mental flexibility and visuospatial function to be the susceptible cognitive domains in women with PD, while the disease severity could predict the working memory and processing speed in men with PD.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-Ling Chen ◽  
Chun-Hsiang Tan ◽  
Hui-Chen Su ◽  
Pi-Shan Sung ◽  
Chung-Yao Chien ◽  
...  

Abstract This study aimed to elucidate the role of sex in neurocognitive function in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Ninety-four idiopathic PD and 167 healthy elderly as normal controls (NCs) were recruited and underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessments. The sex difference were found in NCs but not in PD. In male, PD patients had worse performance on the Digit symbol substitution (DSS) (p < 0.001) and the Symbol Searching (SS) (p < 0.001) than NCs. In female, PD patients had the worse score on the category score of the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (p < 0.001), the SS (p < 0.001), and the pentagon copying (p < 0.001) than NCs. After controlling age and years of education, Hoehn and Yahr Stage can predict the performance of the Color Trail Test part A (βA = 0.241, pA = 0.036), the Stroop Word-Color Test (β = -0.245, p = 0.036), and the DSS (β = -0.258, p = 0.035) in male PD patients. Sex differences were found in NCs but not in PD. The mental flexibility and visuospatial function are susceptible to female in the PD course. Male PD patients’ working memory and processing speed can be predicted by the disease severity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ece Bayram ◽  
Sarah J. Banks ◽  
Guogen Shan ◽  
Nikki Kaplan ◽  
Jessica Z.K. Caldwell

AbstractObjective:To evaluate the sex differences in cognitive course over 4 years in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to controls.Methods:Four-year longitudinal cognitive scores of 257 cognitively intact PD, 167 PD-MCI, and 140 controls from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative were included. Longitudinal scores of men and women, and PD with and without MCI were compared.Results:Women had better verbal memory, men had better visuospatial function. There was no interaction between sex, diagnostic group, and/or time (4-year follow-up period).Conclusions:Sex differences in cognitive course in de novo PD are similar to healthy aging. Cognitive decline rates in PD with and without MCI are similar for the first 4 years of PD.


2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 2445-2452 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Roca ◽  
F. Manes ◽  
A. Chade ◽  
E. Gleichgerrcht ◽  
O. Gershanik ◽  
...  

BackgroundWe recently demonstrated that decline in fluid intelligence is a substantial contributor to frontal deficits. For some classical ‘executive’ tasks, such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Verbal Fluency, frontal deficits were entirely explained by fluid intelligence. However, on a second set of frontal tasks, deficits remained even after statistically controlling for this factor. These tasks included tests of theory of mind and multitasking. As frontal dysfunction is the most frequent cognitive deficit observed in early Parkinson's disease (PD), the present study aimed to determine the role of fluid intelligence in such deficits.MethodWe assessed patients with PD (n=32) and control subjects (n=22) with the aforementioned frontal tests and with a test of fluid intelligence. Group performance was compared and fluid intelligence was introduced as a covariate to determine its role in frontal deficits shown by PD patients.ResultsIn line with our previous results, scores on the WCST and Verbal Fluency were closely linked to fluid intelligence. Significant patient–control differences were eliminated or at least substantially reduced once fluid intelligence was introduced as a covariate. However, for tasks of theory of mind and multitasking, deficits remained even after fluid intelligence was statistically controlled.ConclusionsThe present results suggest that clinical assessment of neuropsychological deficits in PD should include tests of fluid intelligence, together with one or more specific tasks that allow for the assessment of residual frontal deficits associated with theory of mind and multitasking.


2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutsumi Iijima ◽  
Mikio Osawa ◽  
Makoto Iwata ◽  
Akiko Miyazaki ◽  
Hideaki Tei

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between P300 that is one of the event-related potentials and frontal cognitive functions in Parkinson’s disease (PD) without clinically apparent dementia.Subjects were 20 PD cases 48 to 79 years of age, all of whom were within normal limits on the Mini-Mental State examination, and 55 age-matched healthy adults.P300 was elicited with an auditory oddball paradigm and recorded at 15 sites on the scalp. Cognitive functioning of the frontal lobe was evaluated using the New Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Letter Pick-Out Test (LPOT) which reflects selective attention and semantic categorization.P300 latency was delayed in 30.0% of P300 demonstrated abnormal distribution in 20.0%. the WCST and the LPOT were abnormal in 15.0%, P300 latency significantly correlated with number of subcategories achieved on the WCST. P300 amplitude correlated with scores on the LPOT. These results suggest that cognitive dysfunction which linked partly to the frontal lobe might begin in PD even without clinically apparent dementia.


2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 273-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideaki Matsui ◽  
Kazuto Nishinaka ◽  
Masaya Oda ◽  
Narihiro Hara ◽  
Kenichi Komatsu ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 824-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Alevriadou ◽  
Z. Katsarou ◽  
S. Bostantjopoulou ◽  
G. Kiosseoclou ◽  
G. Mentenopoulos

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVEN PAUL WOODS ◽  
ALEXANDER I. TRÖSTER

To identify the cognitive characteristics predictive of incident dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD), we examined the baseline neuropsychological profiles of 18 initially non-demented patients with PD who met diagnostic criteria for dementia (PDD) at one-year follow-up. PDD participants' baseline neuropsychological test scores were compared to the baseline performance of 18 patients with PD who did not meet criteria for dementia at one-year follow-up (PDND) and 18 normal controls (NC). The three groups were matched on baseline demographic and disease variables. Relative to the PDND group, the incident PDD participants demonstrated significantly poorer performance on digits backward (Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised), word list learning and recognition (California Verbal Learning Test), and perseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Each of these baseline neuropsychological variables exhibited adequate diagnostic classification accuracy in predicting PDD and PDND group membership at follow-up. These results suggest that subtle frontal/executive dysfunction is evident during the immediate PDD prodrome and may be of prognostic value in identifying PD patients at risk for dementia. Accordingly, neuropsychological evaluation may facilitate early identification of PDD and thereby inform appropriate dispositional planning. (JINS, 2003, 9, 17–24.)


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