Memory, Mood, and Vitamin D in Persons with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Background Research in recent years has suggested a role of vitamin D in the central nervous system. The final converting enzyme and the vitamin D receptor are found throughout the human brain. From animal studies vitamin D appears important in neurodevelopment, up-regulation of neurotrophic factors, stabilization of mitochondrial function, and antioxidation. Objective To examine the relationship between serum vitamin D and neuropsychiatric function in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods This is an add-on study to a longitudinal study following neuropsychiatric function in persons with PD. Baseline neuropsychiatric performance and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D were examined for 286 participants with PD. Measures of global cognitive function (MMSE, MOCA, Mattis Dementia Scale), verbal memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test), fluency (animals, vegetables, and FAS words), visuospatial function (Benton Line Orientation), executive function (Trails Making Test and Digit-Symbol Substitution), PD severity (Hoehn & Yahr and Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale) and depression (Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)) were administered. Multivariate linear regression assessed the association between vitamin D concentration and neuropsychiatric function, in the entire cohort as well as the non-demented and demented subsets. Results Using a multivariate model, higher vitamin concentrations were associated with better performance on numerous neuropsychiatric tests in the non-demented subset of the cohort. Significant associations were specifically found between vitamin D concentration and verbal fluency and verbal memory (t = 4.31, p < 0.001 and t = 3.04, p = 0.0083). Vitamin D concentrations also correlated with depression scores (t =−3.08, p = 0.0083) in the non-demented subset. Conclusions Higher plasma vitamin D is associated with better cognition and better mood in this sample of PD patients without dementia. Determination of causation will require a vitamin D intervention study.

Vitamin D and Focal Brain Atrophy in Parkinson’s Disease With Non-dementia Patients: A Voxel-based Morphometric Study

“…In recent years, there have been many studies focusing on the correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of PD. Most studies believe that there is a positive correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of the PD (24)(25)(26).In our study, we also observed that lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was associated with worse performance on some cognitive tests in PDND patients, which was consistent with most researches.…”

Vitamin D and Focal Brain Atrophy in Parkinson’s Disease With Non-dementia Patients: A Voxel-based Morphometric Study

“…In recent years, there have been many studies focusing on the correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of PD. Most studies believe that there is a positive correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of the PD (24)(25)(26).In our study, we also observed that lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was associated with worse performance on some cognitive tests in PDND patients, which was consistent with most researches.…”

Could vitamin D deficiency have an impact on motor and cognitive function in Parkinson’s disease?

“…Similar to our findings, Peterson and colleagues [4] found a significant positive correlation between vitamin D levels and the scores of immediate and delayed recall and the verbal fluency in Parkinson's disease patients without dementia. In the group of PD with dementia, no statistically significant correlation was reported between the scores of any of the psychometric tests and vitamin D levels.…”

The Effects of Uric Acid, Serum Vitamin D3, and Their Interaction on Parkinson’s Disease Severity

“…However, in current study, in contrast to majority of previous studies, the results of stratified analysis based on age and sex groups showed a significant positive association between disease severity, when measured by UPDRS III, and serum vitamin D3 in male patients as well as in patients younger than 62 years. Although there are some studies with positive correlation's results in this regard [ 32 ], an explanation on the obtained unclear associations in our study is that the majority of samples are in levels of insufficiency and deficiency vitamin D3, in which no major discrepancies were observed among them in terms of serum vitamin D3 levels. A negative correlation between serum vitamin D3 levels and UPDRS III was observed in patients who are older than 62 years.…”

Vitamin D and Focal Brain Atrophy in Parkinson’s Disease With Non-dementia Patients: A Voxel-based Morphometric Study

“…In recent years, there have been many studies focusing on the correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of PD. Most studies believe that there is a positive correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of the PD (24)(25)(26).In our study, we also observed that lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was associated with worse performance on some cognitive tests in PDND patients, which was consistent with most researches.…”

Could vitamin D deficiency have an impact on motor and cognitive function in Parkinson’s disease?

“…Similar to our findings, Peterson and colleagues [4] found a significant positive correlation between vitamin D levels and the scores of immediate and delayed recall and the verbal fluency in Parkinson's disease patients without dementia. In the group of PD with dementia, no statistically significant correlation was reported between the scores of any of the psychometric tests and vitamin D levels.…”

The Effects of Uric Acid, Serum Vitamin D3, and Their Interaction on Parkinson’s Disease Severity

“…However, in current study, in contrast to majority of previous studies, the results of stratified analysis based on age and sex groups showed a significant positive association between disease severity, when measured by UPDRS III, and serum vitamin D3 in male patients as well as in patients younger than 62 years. Although there are some studies with positive correlation's results in this regard [ 32 ], an explanation on the obtained unclear associations in our study is that the majority of samples are in levels of insufficiency and deficiency vitamin D3, in which no major discrepancies were observed among them in terms of serum vitamin D3 levels. A negative correlation between serum vitamin D3 levels and UPDRS III was observed in patients who are older than 62 years.…”

Vitamin D and Focal Brain Atrophy in Parkinson’s Disease With Non-dementia Patients: A Voxel-based Morphometric Study

“…In recent years, there have been many studies focusing on the correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of PD. Most studies believe that there is a positive correlation between vitamin D de ciency and the cognitive status of the PD (24)(25)(26).In our study, we also observed that lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was associated with worse performance on some cognitive tests in PDND patients, which was consistent with most researches.…”

Could vitamin D deficiency have an impact on motor and cognitive function in Parkinson’s disease?

“…Similar to our findings, Peterson and colleagues [4] found a significant positive correlation between vitamin D levels and the scores of immediate and delayed recall and the verbal fluency in Parkinson's disease patients without dementia. In the group of PD with dementia, no statistically significant correlation was reported between the scores of any of the psychometric tests and vitamin D levels.…”

The Effects of Uric Acid, Serum Vitamin D3, and Their Interaction on Parkinson’s Disease Severity

“…However, in current study, in contrast to majority of previous studies, the results of stratified analysis based on age and sex groups showed a significant positive association between disease severity, when measured by UPDRS III, and serum vitamin D3 in male patients as well as in patients younger than 62 years. Although there are some studies with positive correlation's results in this regard [ 32 ], an explanation on the obtained unclear associations in our study is that the majority of samples are in levels of insufficiency and deficiency vitamin D3, in which no major discrepancies were observed among them in terms of serum vitamin D3 levels. A negative correlation between serum vitamin D3 levels and UPDRS III was observed in patients who are older than 62 years.…”