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Review
. 2016 Nov;31(7):585-594.
doi: 10.1177/1533317516653823. Epub 2016 Jun 13.

Clinical Epidemiology, Evaluation, and Management of Dementia in Parkinson Disease

Delaram Safarpour  1 , Allison W Willis  2
Affiliations
Review

Clinical Epidemiology, Evaluation, and Management of Dementia in Parkinson Disease

Delaram Safarpour et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2016 Nov.

Abstract

The prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson disease (PD) will increase substantially, due to the aging of the population and improved treatments leading to better disease-related outcomes. Dementia is the most common nonmotor symptom in PD, and most patients with PD will have cognitive dysfunction and cognitive decline in the course of their disease. The development of cognitive dysfunction in PD greatly limits the ability to participate in activities of daily living and can be a tipping point for nursing home placement or major caregiver stress. Understanding the different causes of dementia and how to reduce the incidence and impact of secondary cognitive dysfunction in PD are necessary skills for primary care physicians and neurologists. In this review, we discuss the clinical epidemiology of dementia in PD with an emphasis on preventable cognitive dysfunction, present tools for outpatient evaluation of cognitive dysfunction, and describe current pharmacological treatments for dementia in PD.

Keywords: Parkinson disease; Parkinson disease with dementia; dementia; epidemiology; mild cognitive impairment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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