Clinical predictors of cognitive impairment and psychiatric complications in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To estimate the clinical and demographics aspects that may contribute to cognitive impairment and psychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Method: All patients answered a structured standardized clinical questionnaire. Two movement disorders specialists performed the following scale: Unified Parkinson's disease rating score (UPDRS), the modified Hoehn and Yahr staging, Schwab and England Scale, SCOPA cognition (SCOPA-COG), SCOPA-Psychiatric complications (SCOPA-PC) and Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS). We built a generalized linear model to assess predictors for the SCOPA-COG and SCOPA-PC scores.

Results: Almost 37% of our patients were demented as per SCOPA-COG scores. Level of education and the UPDRS-Subscale III were predictors of cognitive impairment. Higher scores in domain 3 of NMSS and male gender were associated with psychiatric complications as assessed per the SCOPA-PC.

Conclusion: Level of education and disease severity are predictors of dementia in PD. Psychiatric complications are more commonly observed in men.