Does Right-Hand Motor Impairment Affect Performance on Cognitive Testing in Parkinson's Disease?

BACKGROUND

For People with Parkinson's (PwP), motor disturbances affecting the dominant upper extremity often impacts ability to perform tasks such as writing or typing and may confound cognitive test performances with graphomotor responding.

OBJECTIVES

We explored association between upper extremity impairment and graphomotor cognitive test performances in a clinical sample of moderately advanced PwP pursuing Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS).

METHODS

A retrospective chart review was conducted of 80 consecutive right hand dominant PwP who completed pre-DBS neuropsychological evaluations. Right upper extremity (RUE) impairment was measured using MDS-UPDRS Part 3. Non-parametric correlations examined associations between RUE impairment and tests involving graphomotor (trail making, letter cancellation, visual memory) versus oral responding (fluency, digit span, verbal memory).

RESULTS

No statistically significant associations were observed between RUE motor impairment and graphomotor test performances.

CONCLUSIONS

Minimal impact of dominant RUE impairment on graphomotor tasks in moderately advanced PwP supports application in clinical and research settings.