Validation of the Movement Disorders Society Criteria for Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease

Objective/Rationale:          
Dementia in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a serious health issue and a major concern for many PD patients. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a transitional stage between normal cognitive functioning and Parkinson’s disease dementia. Therefore, MCI monitoring can be used for early identification of those PD patients at risk for the development of dementia. Recently, the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) proposed diagnostic criteria for MCI in PD (PD-MCI). These criteria need to be validated.

Project Description:             
In this project the MDS PD-MCI criteria will be validated by:

1. pooling and analyzing neuropsychological longitudinal databases with follow-up duration of at least one year (≥ 5,500 PD patients and ≥ 1,700 controls);
2. applying the MDS PD-MCI criteria;
3. investigating the rate of conversion to PD dementia and the predictive variables for conversion to dementia using the longitudinal databases; and
4. proposing revision of the MDS PD-MCI criteria, if necessary.

Relevance to Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease:                     
The definition of PD-MCI is important both for the identification and management of PD patients and for future therapeutic trials concerning etiology, disease course, and treatment responsiveness (for instance the delaying or prevention of the onset of PD-dementia). Moreover, a valid definition will allow clinicians, patients, caregivers, and researchers to communicate better.

Anticipated Outcome:          
When PD-MCI criteria are valid they can be applied in patient care, in treatment studies (e.g. as outcome variable) as well as in studies search for underlying cause (e.g. of PD-dementia).