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Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease

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Abstract

Prospective studies conducted during the last decade have shown that the majority of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) develop dementia. In addition, using a variety of definitions and methods, more recent research suggests that approximately a quarter of PD patients without dementia have mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI). Furthermore, several studies have shown that approximately 20% have MCI even at time of diagnosis of PD. The typical cognitive deficits include visuospatial, attentional, and executive deficits, but memory deficits have also been shown. The etiology of PD-MCI is not known, but it is likely that mechanisms known to contribute to dementia in PD (ie, limbic and cortical Lewy bodies, amyloid plaques, and cholinergic deficits) play a role, in addition to dysfunction of dopaminergic frontostriatal circuits. PD-MCI predicts a shorter time to dementia, and preliminary evidence suggests that this is particularly true for posterior cognitive deficits. There are currently no systematic clinical trials in PD-MCI.

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Disclosure

Conflicts of interest: D. Aarsland: has board membership for DiaGenic, and has been a consultant for Novartis, Lundbeck, GE Health, and Merck Serono; K. Brønnick: none; T. Fladby: none.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Age-Related Diseases, Division of Psychiatry, Stavanger University Hospital, Arm Hansen v 20, 4005, Stavanger, Norway

    Dag Aarsland

  2. Norwegian Centre for Movement Disorders, Stavanger University Hospital, Armauer Hansensv. 20, 4011, Stavanger, Norway

    Kolbjørn Brønnick

  3. Department of Neurology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway

    Tormod Fladby

  4. Faculty Division Akershus University Hospital, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Tormod Fladby

  5. Karolinska Institutet, Department NVS, KI Alzheimer Disease Research Center, Novum, SE-141 86, Stockholm, Sweden

    Dag Aarsland

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  1. Dag Aarsland
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  2. Kolbjørn Brønnick
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Correspondence to Dag Aarsland.

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Aarsland, D., Brønnick, K. & Fladby, T. Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 11, 371–378 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-011-0203-1

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