The Verbal Fluency Decline After Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease: Is There an Influence of Age?

Background: DBS is commonly used to treat Parkinson's disease (PD). DBS is not considered to cause major cognitive side effects, but some research groups have reported that it can cause decreased verbal fluency. The influence of age on DBS cognitive outcome is unclear. We investigated the possible influence of patients' age, level of education, disease duration, disease progression, depression, and levodopa equivalent dose (LED) on verbal fluency performance in patients with PD who underwent DBS of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS). In this article, we investigated the influence of demographic and clinical parameters, especially age, on cognitive performance post-DBS in PD patients.

Methods: Forty-three patients with PD and without major psychiatric illness (according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disroders, Fourth Edition) were enrolled in the study. Median age was 64.0 years (range, 46-77). In 21 patients, the indication for DBS was established on clinical grounds in keeping with international guidelines; these patients underwent STN-DBS, and the remaining 22 did not. Cognitive performance in both groups was assessed by standard neuropsychological test batteries at baseline and after median follow-up of 7 months.

Results: A statistically significant decline in the semantic category of verbal fluency task was found in the STN-DBS group ( < 0.01). Linear regression model revealed an influence of age ( < 0.01) and disease duration ( < 0.01) in relation to this decline.

Conclusions: This study confirms previous findings that verbal fluency declines after STN-DBS in PD patients in comparison to PD patients without DBS. This decline is related to age and disease duration.