Abstract Details

Title Multitasking Deficits in Patients with Early Parkinson's Disease

Topic Movement Disorders

Presentation(s) P04 - (-)

Poster/Presentation
Number 147

Objective

Background BACKGROUND: Detection and treatment of non motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease is vital to improve the quality of life of the patients and their families. Even though the cognitive impairment in early stages of the disease may be hard to detect, the cognitive profile of patients with Parkinson's disease usually includes difficulties in cognitive functions linked to a correct functioning of the prefrontal cortex. A number of studies have shown frontal deficits in patients with Parkinson's disease, however, only one publication shows deficits in Multitasking (Perfetti 2000), function linked to the frontal lobe.

Design/Methods DESIGN/METHODS: The performance of 29 patients with Early Parkinson's disease was compared with 22 control subjects using the Hotel Task. All the tasks require organizational and time management skills.

Results RESULTS: Results indicate that there were significant differences in the performance of the Hotel Task between controls and patients with Early Parkinson's disease (p<0.01), showing a worse performance on the group of patients with Early Parkinson's disease. In the present work, we propose that the Hotel Tasks designed by Manly could be a great neuropsychological instrument, not only to rehabilitate executive dysfunction, but also to assess ecologically goal directed behavior and executive functions in a group of patients with Parkinson's disease in the early stage of the disease.

Conclusions CONCLUSIONS: The Hotel Task is a useful tool in the discrimination subtle executive deficits in group of patients with Early Parkinson's disease. Better assessments of Executive Deficits are needed to make correct predictions about a patient functioning in everyday life and to plan the interventions and rehabilitation program that are needed to make the patient able to perform optimally.

Authors/Disclosures
PRESENTER	No disclosure on file
Anabel R. Chade, MD	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
Facundo Manes	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file

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