State Anxiety Predicts Cognitive Performance in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Objective: Anxiety is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and frequently a comorbidity that appears alongside nonmotor symptoms such as cognitive deficits; however, the relationship between anxiety and cognition in PD remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and specific cognitive domains (e.g., attention/working memory, executive functions, memory, language, and visuospatial function). Method: A total of 48 individuals with PD and 18 healthy controls were assessed using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory along with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine whether trait and/or state anxiety predicted deficits in overall cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) and/or specific individual cognitive domains in the PD and healthy control samples while controlling for covariates such as age, depression (Geriatric Depression Scale), and Unified Parkinson's disease Rating Scale motor-subsection-III (PD only). Results: Results showed that state anxiety in PD significantly predicted performance across an array of cognitive domains, such as attention/working memory, executive functioning, memory, and language, whereas trait anxiety was a predictor only for executive functioning. In contrast, there was no significant relationship between state anxiety and visuospatial ability Conclusions: Overall, these findings highlight that performance in particular cognitive domains are associated with anxiety in PD. Thus, it may be critically important to consider and quantify the contribution of anxiety to cognitive performance when diagnosing and treating dementia and/or mild cognitive impairments in PD.