Biomarkers

Abstract

Background: The objectives of the study is to assess the clinical utility of the MemTrax Memory Test for detection of cognitive impairment in patients with PD.

Method: The MemTrax and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were administered to 61 healthy controls (HC), 102 PD patients with normal cognition (PD-N), 74 PD patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) and 52 PD patients with dementia (PD-D). The MemTrax performance, MTx-%C, MTx-RT and MTx-Cp, and the MoCA scores were comparatively analyzed. The MemTrax performances were assessed according to the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve.

Result: The MoCA scores were similar between HC and PD-N, however, MTx-%C and MTx-Cp were lower in PD-N than HC(p<0.05). MTx-%C, MTx-Cp and the MoCA scores were significantly lower in PD-MCI versus PD-N and in PD-D versus PD-MCI (p ≤ 0.001), while MTx-RT was statistically longer in PD-D versus PD-MCI (p ≤ 0.001). For the PD groups, the MemTrax performance strongly correlated with the MoCA scores. To detect PD-MCI, the optimal MTx-%C and MTx-Cp cutoff were 75% and 50.0, respectively. To detect PD-D, the optimal MTx-%C, MTx-RT and MTx-Cp cutoff were 69%, 1.341s and 40.6, respectively.

Conclusion: The MemTrax provides rapid, valid and reliable metrics for assessing cognition in patients with PD that could have practical clinical utility for identifying PD-MCI at early stage and monitoring cognitive function decline during the progression of disease.