Anxiety, Depression, and Apathy as Predictors of Cognitive Decline in Patients With Parkinson's Disease-A Three-Year Follow-Up Study.

Anxiety, depression, and apathy are the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. They impair cognitive functioning and have a profound impact on quality of life. This follow-up study aims to investigate the predictive value of anxiety, depression, and apathy on the development of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in PD patients. Twenty-nine cognitively unimpaired PD patients (mean age 68.2 SD ± 7.12 years; 13 women) participated in this study. At Baseline (BL) levels of apathy (Apathy Evaluation Scale, AES), depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI-II), and anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory, BAI), were assessed. Cognitive status was reassessed three years later according to MCI/non-MCI status. For statistics, we used binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis to examine anxiety, apathy, and depression at BL as a predictor of MCI status three years later. Eight of the 29 patients developed MCI. Anxiety level at BL was found to predict MCI status at three-year follow-up ( This study shows an association between anxiety and the development of MCI in PD patients, although the association between apathy, depression, and MCI did not reach a significant level.

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Copyright © 2022 Toloraia, Meyer, Beltrani, Fuhr, Lieb and Gschwandtner.

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The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.