Effectiveness of Cognitive Enhancement Programs in Parkinson's Disease Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Narrative Review.

OBJECT: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. Although PD has been associated mainly with the onset of motor symptoms, cognitive impairment is an equally important feature of the disease. The high prevalence of cognitive impairment in PD makes the implementation of cognitive enhancement programs particularly important.

AIM: This narrative review evaluates the effectiveness of cognitive enhancement programs in Parkinson's disease patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) according to the results of English language studies that have been published in PubMed and Google Scholar electronic databases until May 2024 (no initiation date).

RESULTS

Sixteen studies encompassing 828 participants were included. Cognitive enhancement programs appear to have a positive effect on various cognitive domains, such as overall cognition, memory, executive functions, attention, information processing speed, and visuospatial functions. However, the results regarding the improvement of patients' mood and quality of life are not very encouraging, as the majority of studies did not observe significant improvements after the intervention, which raises questions about the appropriateness of these programs in these aspects.

CONCLUSIONS

Cognitive enhancement programs appear to offer significant benefits for delaying cognitive decline in patients with PD-MCI. However, further research is needed to optimize interventions and understand their underlying action mechanisms by conducting future research studies focusing on the implementation of combined and individualized interventions.