Independent effect of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension on mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Purpose: Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is an associative or causative factor of cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the association between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and neurogenic OH directly associated with the presence of alpha-synuclein in PD remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between MCI and neurogenic OH in patients with de novo PD. We also investigated the patterns of neuropsychological performance according to neurogenic OH.

Methods: A total of 456 patients with PD-normal cognition (PD-NC, n = 204) or PD-MCI (n = 252) were recruited from multiple centers in Korea. All patients underwent comprehensive neuropsychological tests and tilt-table tests to evaluate cognitive function and neurogenic OH. We used logistic regression analysis and multivariate analysis of covariance to determine the association between MCI and neurogenic OH and the pattern of neuropsychological performance according to neurogenic OH.

Results: Neurogenic OH (odds ratio = 3.66, 95% confidence interval 2.06 to 6.47) was independently associated with MCI in patients with de novo PD, regardless of orthostatic symptoms, while nonneurogenic OH was not. Patients with PD with neurogenic OH exhibited worse performance in frontal-executive function and visual memory function than those without neurogenic OH.

Conclusion: Our findings provide insight into neurogenic OH as an important clinical factor with cognitive impairment in individuals with PD and vice versa. Therefore, the evaluation of cognitive function is necessary in PD patients with neurogenic OH.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; Frontal executive function; Neurogenic orthostatic hypotension; Parkinson’s disease.