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. 2024 Oct 1;11(10):ENEURO.0239-24.2024.
doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0239-24.2024. Print 2024 Oct.

Associations between Thyroid Hormones and Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Yingying Peng  1 , Lan Zhu  1 , Qingling Bai  2 , Limin Wang  1 , Qian Li  1
Affiliations

Associations between Thyroid Hormones and Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Yingying Peng et al. eNeuro. .

Abstract

This study aims to explore the correlation of serum thyroid hormone levels to cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. In this retrospective study, 106 Chinese patients without cognitive impairments and 94 patients with cognitive impairments, including 55 with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) and 39 with PD dementia (PDD), were analyzed. Clinical data regarding the PD assessments, including disease duration, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Part 3 scores, and Hoehn and Yahr (H-Y) staging, were analyzed. Cognitive functions were evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment score. Serum levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), and free triiodothyronine (FT3), were measured using ELISA. Significantly altered H-Y staging, disease duration, and UPDRS Part 3 scores were observed in PD patients with cognitive impairment compared with those without. Serum levels of FT3 were significantly decreased, while FT4 and TSH levels were significantly elevated in PD patients with cognitive impairment compared with those without. Combined detection of TSH, FT3, and FT4 showed value in distinguishing PD patients with and without cognitive impairment. Furthermore, a comparison of serum levels between PD-MCI and PDD patients revealed significant association between thyroid hormone levels and the degree of cognitive impairment in PD patients. Our findings suggest a relationship between changes in serum thyroid hormone levels and cognitive impairments in PD patients. Thyroid hormone levels, particularly FT3, may serve as potential markers for cognitive dysfunction in PD.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease; cognitive impairments; thyroid hormone.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Comparative analysis of serum levels of FT3 (A), FT4 (B), and TSH (C) in PD patients without cognitive impairments (PD, n = 106) and PDCI patients (n = 94).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves illustrating the performance of serum FT3 (A), FT4 (B), TSH (C), and their combined test (D) in differentiating PDCI patients.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Comparative evaluation of serum FT3 (A), FT4 (B), and TSH (C) levels between PD-MCI patients (n = 55) and PDD patients (n = 39).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Spearman correlation analysis examining the relationship between MoCA scores and serum levels of FT3 (A), FT4 (B), and TSH (C) in PDCI patients (n = 94).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Spearman correlation analysis examining the relationship between MMSE scores and serum levels of FT3 (A), FT4 (B), and TSH (C) in PDCI patients (n = 94).
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Spearman correlation analysis examining the relationship between serum S100β and serum levels of FT3 (A), FT4 (B), and TSH (C) in PDCI patients (n = 94).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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