Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2020 Mar;127(3):323-330.
doi: 10.1007/s00702-019-02129-2. Epub 2020 Jan 2.

Differences in cognitive profiles between Lewy body and Parkinson's disease dementia

Alice Martini  1 , Luca Weis  2 , Roberta Schifano  2 , Francesca Pistonesi  3 , Eleonora Fiorenzato  2 , Angelo Antonini  3 , Roberta Biundo  4
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Differences in cognitive profiles between Lewy body and Parkinson's disease dementia

Alice Martini et al. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) not only differ for the time of onset of cognitive deficits but also present variability in affected functions which are relevant in understanding underlying pathology. Cognitive performance of two global cognitive screening scales, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), as well as of a neuropsychological test battery, was evaluated in 18 DLB and 21 PDD patients. Feasibility for each cognitive test was investigated. Both MMSE and MoCA are feasible assessments in PDD and DLB patients. MoCA was more sensitive in discriminating groups as higher number of DLB patients showed pathological performances on the Digit Span Forward subitem (p = 0.049). The Stroop test in PDD and the Trail Making Tests-A and B, and the Benton's judgment of line orientation tests in both groups were considered not feasible. Among feasible cognitive tests in at least one group, Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test copy (p = 0.013) and semantic fluency (p = 0.038) are sensitive in discriminating DLB from PDD cognitive profile. Trail Making Tests-A and B, the Benton's judgment of line orientation and the Stroop tests are not feasible for assessing patients with frank dementia. Longitudinal studies should not include those tasks to reduce the risk of missing data once disease progresses and dementia develops. DLB patients present more severe and widespread cognitive dysfunction than PDD, particularly in attentive, visuospatial, and language domains.

Keywords: Cognition; Dementia with Lewy bodies; Feasibility; Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA); Parkinson’s dementia.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Aldridge GM, Birnschein A, Denburg NL, Narayanan NS (2018) Parkinson’s disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies have similar neuropsychological profiles. Front Neurol 9:1–8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.00123 - DOI
    1. Biundo R, Weis L, Facchini S, Formento-Dojot P, Vallelunga A, Pilleri M, Antonini A (2014) Cognitive profiling of Parkinson disease patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 20(4):394–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2014.01.009 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Biundo R, Weis L, Bostantjopoulou S, Stefanova E, Falup-Pecurariu C, Kramberger MG, Aarsland D (2016) MMSE and MoCA in Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies: a multicenter 1-year follow-up study. J Neural Transm 123(4):431–438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1517-6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Borenstein M (2009) Effect sizes for continuous data. Handb of Res Synth Meta-Anal 2:221–235
    1. Brønnick, K (2015) Cognitive profile in Parkinson’s disease dementia. In: M. Emre (Ed.) Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Parkinson’s Disease. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 27–45 10.1093/med/9780199681648.003.0004.

Publication types