J Korean Neurol Assoc.  1998 Apr;16(2):166-171.

Frontal lobe dysfunctions in Parkinson's disease

• Hong YE
• Lee AY
• Kim JM

Abstract

A wide range of cognitive impairments and depression can be observed in most patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). But the underlying mechanism of these changes has not to be clarified yet. This study evaluated whether the frontal lobe dysfunctions contribute to the cognitive deficits in PD by comparison with age and education-matched controls. The neuropsychological tests known to be sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction were performed to 38 patients with PD and matched 24 controls. These were composed of 'Category Fluency Test (CFT)' including objects, animals, & nations and 'Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)'. General cognition and depression were measured 'Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE)' and 'Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)' respectively. We examined the degree of motor disabilities in PD using the Hoehn-Yahr Stage. Patients with PD were assessed before noon and during the ""On"" time of levodopa to reduce the diurnal variation of mood and drug effects. Although PD patients, compared with controls, showed decreased ability in attention & calculation, memory, and visuo-spatial construction, the most prominent deficit was frontal lobe dysfunction evaluated with WCST and CFTs. Cognitive impairments in PD did not attribute to the discrepancy of education level or associated depression. So we suggest that the frontal lobe dysfunction may play an important role for cognitive impairments in PD.

MeSH Terms

Animals
Cognition
Depression
Education
Frontal Lobe*
Humans
Levodopa
Memory
Neuropsychological Tests
Parkinson Disease*
Levodopa