Effect of emotion on the cognitive function of patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease

<p><strong>Objective </strong> To explore the effect of anxiety and depression on cognitive function in patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease (PD). <strong> Methods</strong> A total of 71 patients with primary PD were enrolled in this study. Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Hoehn-Yahr stage were used to evaluate the severity of the disease. Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (14-item version, HAMA-14) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (24-item version, HAMD-24) were used to evaluate the anxiety and depression. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA, Beijing version) were used to evaluate the cognitive function. The impact of anxiety and depression on cognitive function was analyzed. <strong>Results</strong> All of these patients were diagnosed as mild to moderate PD, including 61 patients (85.92% ) with anxiety, 55 patients (77.46% ) with depression and 52 patients (73.24% ) with concurrent anxiety and depression. The UPDRS score of patients with anxiety and depression were significantly higher than that of patients without anxiety (<em>P</em> = 0.016) or depression (<em>P</em> = 0.000). The MoCA score of PD patients with anxiety were significantly lower than that of patients without anxiety (<em>P</em> = 0.042). Among 71 patients, there were 49 cases (69.01% ) with cognitive dysfunction, including 28 patients (39.44% ) with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 21 cases (29.58% ) with dementia. There was no statistical difference of HAMA-14 and HAMD-24 scores among PD patients with different cognitive levels (<em>P</em> &gt; 0.05, for all). Logistic regression analysis showed only anxiety was the independent risk factor for cognitive dysfunction of PD patients (<em>OR</em> = 10.816, 95%CI: 1.682-69.560; <em>P</em> = 0.012). <strong>Conclusions</strong> The illness of PD patients accompanied by anxiety or depression is more serious. PD patients with anxiety have higher prevalence of cognitive dysfunction.</p><p> </p><p><strong>DOI: </strong>10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2016.02.006