Assessment of cognitive impairment and Parkinson's precursors in geriatric patients: A literature review

Resumen

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a common feature in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and may be present at the time of diagnosis or even early in the course of PD. Diagnostic criteria for PD-MCI encompasses two operationalization levels for neuropsychological examination. The aims of the present literature review were to explore which instruments are used to evaluate the cognitive decline in geriatric patients, verify if the instruments utilized do correspond to the symptoms and criteria for PD-MCI reported in the literature and which cognitive domains are being evaluated. Also, confirm if these instruments address an early detection of the symptoms. This study was divided in five phases. Through phase one and two, a search was carried out through Google Scholar, MedlinePlus, EbscoHost, PsyInfo and PubMed databases. Through the process of judges, the final articles were chosen in phase three and data extraction in phase four. Descriptive analysis were conducted in phase five. A total of 62 articles fulfilled the selection criteria. The most used tests were the MMSE, the Trail Making Test Part A, Trail Making Test Part B and MoCA. The results show that the cognitive domains being evaluated are memory, executive functioning, attention, language, visuospatial functioning, and global cognition which correspond to the symptoms of PD-MCI. However, the instruments utilized for evaluation do not meet the criteria on either of the two operationalization levels for a Diagnostic PD-MCI neuropsychological examination. Therefore, do not allow for early detection of the symptoms in a clinical setting.