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Cognitive and affective dysfunctions are frequent but often neglected symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD). We developed the screening tool Parkinson neuropsychometric dementia assessment (PANDA) with five cognitive tasks and a short depression questionnaire. Healthy subjects and patients without cognitive impairment (PD), mild cognitive disorder (PD-MCD), or dementia (PDD) were examined. The cognition part had a specificity of 91% and a sensitivity of 90% for PDD and 77% for PDD plus PD-MCD patients. The mood questionnaire also had high sensitivity and specificity. We conclude that the PANDA is an economical, easy-to-use and sensitive tool to detect neuropsychological dysfunctions in PD patients in clinical practice.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is frequently compounded by neruropsychiatric complications, increasing disability. The combined effect of motor and mental status on care-dependency in PD outpatients is not well characterized. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1449 PD outpatients. The assessment comprised the Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the diagnostic criteria for dementia. PD severity and treatment complications were rated using Hoehn and Yahr staging and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) IV. The acknowledged level of care-dependency was documented. Care-dependency was present in 18.3% of all patients. A total of 13.9% had dementia, 18.8% had depression, and 14.3% had both. Regression analyses revealed increasing effects of age, PD duration, and PD severity on care-dependency in all three mental-disorder subgroups with the strongest effects in patients with depression only. Depressed patients with antidepressive treatment still had significantly higher PD severity, higher MADRS and UPDRS-IV scores but were not more likely to be care-dependent than non-depressed patients. Older age, longer duration and increased severity of PD contribute to care-dependency in patients with untreated depression. Treatment of depression is associated with lower rates of care-dependency.

Background: Data regarding both drug-related and non-drug-related costs in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are scarce, mainly due to the difficulties in data acquisition in experimental designs. Likewise, the reported impact of drug costs on total direct costs varies across different studies. In addition, the influence of comorbidities on both treatment costs and health-related quality of life has not been adequately evaluated. Methods: A sample of office-based neurologists (n = 315) in Germany was asked to examine up to five consecutive patients with PD (n = 1449) on a specified day during the study period. Patients of all ages were eligible and their evaluation was performed using standardized questionnaires. Results: PD-specific therapy costs increased with the stage of the disease, early onset of the disease and disease duration. The major costs were due to PD-related therapy, whereas other medications only resulted in minor costs. Disease stage mainly influenced direct therapy costs, with an observed increase of total daily costs from €7.3 to €11.3/day. In addition, disease onset at age < 65 years resulted in total daily costs of €11.2 compared to late onset of disease (> 75 years) with daily therapy costs of €5.3. In this patient group neuropsychiatric comorbidities such as dementia and depression were only insufficiently treated. In addition, these comorbidities severely affected health-related quality of life. Conclusion: Therapy costs were influenced by disease stage, disease onset as well as present comorbidities. Furthermore, comorbidities such as depression and dementia were diagnosed but were not adequately treated.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is often accompanied by non-motor complications, such as dementia, depression, and psychotic symptoms, which worsen the prognosis and increase the personal and socioeconomic burden of disease. Prevalence estimates of these complications are quite variable and are lacking for the outpatient care sector. Methods: As part of a larger, nationwide, cross-sectional epidemiological study in n=315 neurological outpatient settings in Germany, this paper estimates the frequency of dementia and cognitive impairment in n=873 outpatients meeting the UK Brain Bank criteria for idiopathic PD. Assessments were based on a clinical interview and neuropsychological assessments, including the Hoehn & Yahr rating and Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Cognitive impairment was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), Clock Drawing Test (CDT) and the Parkinson Neuropsychometric Dementia Assessment (PANDA) and the clinician’s diagnosis of dementia was based on the diagnostic criteria of DSMIV. Results Using standardized cutoff scores, the prevalence of cognitive impairment in the study sample as measured by various methods was 17.5% by MMSE (≤ 24), 41.8% by CDT (≥ 3), 43.6% by PANDA (≤ 14), and 28.6% met the DSM-IV criteria for dementia. All estimates increased with age and PD severity. Gender was an inconsistent contributor while illness duration had no significant impact on cognition. Multiple regression analyses revealed PD severity to be the strongest predictor of dementia risk (OR=4.3; 95 % CI: 2.1–9.1), while neuropsychiatric syndromes had independent, although modest additional contributions (OR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.6–3.8). Conclusion: Estimates of cognitive impairment and dementia in PD patients are largely dependent on the diagnostic measure used. Using established clinical diagnostic standards for dementia the overall rate on routine outpatient neurological care is 28.6%, but using more sensitive neuropsychological measures, rates for cognitive impairment might be up to 2-fold higher. The MMSE revealed strikingly low sensitivity. Neuropsychiatric syndromes, in addition to PD severity and age, have an independent – although modest – additional contribution to patients’ risk for cognitive impairment and dementia.