This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: To determine the profiles of visual dysfunction and their relationship to motor and cognitive dysfunction and to disability in mild to moderate Parkinson disease (PD) without dementia.
Methods: Seventy-six independently living participants with mild to moderate PD and 161 neurologically normal older adults were studied using a comprehensive battery to assess visual acuity, contrast sensitivity (CS), visual speed of processing and attention, spatial and motion perception, visual and verbal memory, visuoconstructional abilities, executive functions, depression, and motor function.
Results: Participants with PD scored significantly worse on all tests of vision and cognition compared with normal elderly persons. Reduced CS contributed to deficits on tests of spatial and motion perception and attention in participants with PD. Impairments in visual attention and spatial perception predicted worse cognitive function. Worse performances on tests of visual speed of processing and attention, spatial and motion perception, visual construction, and executive functions correlated with measures of postural instability and gait difficulty (in the Motor section of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale). Impairments in motor function, visual memory, mood, and executive functions predicted worse disability as measured by Schwab–England Activities of Daily Living Scale.
Conclusions: Patients with mild to moderate Parkinson disease showed impaired visual perception and cognition compared with elderly control subjects. Visual dysfunction contributes to parkinsonian disability through its influences on cognition and locomotion.
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
