Assessing the utility of the Movement Disorder Society Task Force Level 1 diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease

Jennifer Y Y Szeto, Loren Mowszowski, Moran Gilat, Courtney C. Walton, Sharon L. Naismith, Simon J G Lewis*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Using the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) Task Force Level 1 criteria, this study examined the classification of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's Disease (PD-MCI) derived from a range of cut-off scores that have previously been suggested by the MDS Task Force. Furthermore, differences in PD-MCI frequencies were examined when comparing performance on current neuropsychological testing to the normative sample, as opposed to decline from premorbid functioning, as evidence of cognitive impairment. Method: Two hundred and thirty-four non-demented PD patients underwent neurological and neuropsychological assessment at the Parkinson's Disease Research Clinic at the Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney. Results: When cognitive impairment was defined as 1SD and 1.5SD below premorbid intellect, 109 patients (47%) and 76 (32%) patients met criteria for PD-MCI respectively. This proportion dropped considerably to 50 patients (21%) with a 2SD cut-off score. However, when calculating impairment based on comparisons with normative data, only 68 patients (29%) and 41 patients (18%) met PD-MCI criteria when a cut-off score of 1 and 1.5SD was employed. This proportion dropped to just 22 patients (9%) with a 2SD cut-off score. Conclusion: Results from the present study suggest that the MDS PD-MCI criteria may be too broad, as substantial differences in frequencies of PD-MCI were observed with the application of differing criteria. We propose that a 1.5SD cut-off score below premorbid functioning may provide greater utility in characterizing PD-MCI than a 1.5SD cut-off below normative data, which has been widely applied in previous studies examining the MDS PD-MCI criteria.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)31-35
Number of pages5
JournalParkinsonism and Related Disorders
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cognitive decline
  • Mild cognitive impairment
  • Neuropsychological tests
  • Parkinson's disease

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