Abstract

THE EFFECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STATUS ON COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE AMONG PATIENTS WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

*Lamis Hatem Alkhanani

Abstract

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is considered the second most popular neurodegenerative disorder in the world. People diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have reported a decline in cognitive abilities, this also has been observed by their caregivers. Mild cognitive impairment affected nearly 20 to 50% of PD people, and studies show dementia in approximately up to 80% of people with PD. The most common cognitive impairments associated with PD are: Paying attention, planning, concentrating on events, solving complex problems, following a complex conversation, or even quickly form ideas and in some cases remembering events or details of events. It is noteworthy that depression has been reported in several cases of Parkinson's. Method: This study includes 20 PD patients with psychological problems and 20 healthy controls. They were gathered from King Fahd Medical City Hospital in Riyadh. Statistical methods used are frequencies & percentages, mean and standard deviation, independent sample Tpackage for Social Science (SPSS V.26) was used for manipulating and analyzing the data. Results: The results show that there is a significant difference in MMSE, DIGIT SPAN (FORWARD), STROOP TEST (Time), STROOP TEST (Error), TMT (A), TMT (B) and HADS (DEPRESSION) between patients with psychological problems and the healthy control group. But there is no significant difference in DIGIT SPAN (BACKWARD) and HADS (ANXIETY) between patients with PD and the healthy control group. Conclusions: In conclusion, this study is the first study in the Arab countries and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia specifically, that explored the psychological effect on cognitive functions in Parkinson’s disease in Saudi society.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Saudi Arabia, cognitive performance.