Cognitive deficits in Parkinson’s disease typically affect executive functions.
Recently, the concept of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) has been related to PD
(PD-MCI). PD-MCI is considered a transition phase to Parkinson’s disease
Dementia. Therefore, it is important to identify PD-MCI in a reliable way.
Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the INECO Frontal
Screening (IFS) in detecting cognitive deficits in PD-MCI. Additionally, we
compare the IFS and the Addenbrook Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) between
three groups; PD-MCI, MCI, and controls. Methods: The IFS and ACE-R were
administered to 36 patients with PD-MCI, 31 with MCI (amnestic-multidomain
subtype) and 92 healthy controls. Sensitivity and specificity were determined
using ROC analysis. The groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance.
Results: The IFS had adequate accuracy in differentiating patients with PD-MCI
from healthy controls (AUC=0.77, sensitivity=0.82, specificity=0.77), and good
accuracy in differentiating PD-MCI from MCI patients (AUC=0.80,
sensitivity=0.82, specificity=0.61). However the IFS had low accuracy in
differentiating MCI patients from healthy controls (AUC=0.47, sensitivity=0.52,
specificity=0.41). On the ACE-R, the PD-MCI group had low performance in Fluency
and Language. Only patients with PD-MCI had difficulties on the IFS,
specifically in inhibitory control and visual working memory. This dysexecutive
profile explains the sensitivity and specificity values found in the IFS.
Conclusion: The present study results suggest that the IFS is a suitable
screening tool for exploring cognitive dysfunction in PD-MCI, especially in
those patients with a dysexecutive profile.