The tools of the trade: A state of the art “How to Assess Cognition” in the patient with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease is heterogeneous both in severity and pattern and subject to influences both integral to and external to the disease. Diagnostic Criteria have been developed by the Movement Disorders Society that help to guide clinicians and researchers to an accurate diagnosis of Parkinson's disease - mild cognitive impairment or Parkinson's disease dementia. To operationalize these criteria, and to assess the pattern and severity of cognitive dysfunction we need: (1) Valid measures of cognitive abilities covering the major domains of cognition, (2) amethod to determine whether or not the performance represents a decline from a person's previous level of functioning, and (3) an assessment of how the individual's cognitive abilities enable (or disable) function in day to day activities. This paper will discuss the methods of assessment and the measures that can be used to make a comprehensive assessment of cognition in Parkinson's disease.

The Penn Parkinson's Daily Activities Questionnaire-15: Psychometric properties of a brief assessment of cognitive instrumental activities of daily living in Parkinson's disease

“…Additionally, a smaller number of ADL scales have been tested in PD specifically [9,24,25]. To our knowledge, the only existing PD-specific IADL scale aside from the PDAQ is the Parkinson’s Disease Cognitive Functional Rating Scale (PD-CFRS) [26], a 12-item questionnaire administered in KI interview format.…”

A novel de novo mutation inATP1A3and childhood-onset schizophrenia

“…Consistent with this distribution, each of the described phenotypes of ATP1A3 mutations share some features with disturbances of the basal ganglia that also present with a combination of motor and psychiatric abnormalities, including Parkinson's, Huntington's, and progressive supranuclear palsy (Aarsland et al 2014; Burn et al 2014; Marras et al 2014). Furthermore, dysfunction in these circuits fits with existing understanding of the etiology of motor gating abnormalities, schizophrenia, and other sensory gating abnormalities involving GABAergic neurons of basal ganglia and dopaminergic neurons of ventral tegmentum (Davis 1974; Egerton et al 2013; Heckers and Konradi 2013).…”

Clinical Validity of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale in Differentiating Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Disease and Normative Data

“…All participants in the current study were Caucasians and generally well educated, which clearly limits the generalizability of the results to different ethnic groups or individuals with substandard levels of education [20]. Instead of using semantic verbal fluency as a language domain test, the use of the Boston Naming Test-60 would be better justified because some researchers might classify semantic verbal fluency as an executive function test (see MDS Level II criteria [9]).…”

“…A revised version with normative data and the new DRS-2 Alternate Form were published in 2001 without changes to the DRS test material [6,7]. The DRS is a standard instrument in the cognitive research of neurodegenerative diseases and in Parkinson's disease (PD) in particular [8] (referred to as a generic and non-PD-specific cognitive screening measure) [9]. The DRS has been recommended by the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) for the standard assessment of PD dementia at Level I (PD-D) [10] and, more recently, for mild cognitive impairment in PD at Level I (PD-MCI) [11].…”