For some aspects of the disease, such as cognitive abilities, apathy, and issues with balance, speech, and swallowing— currently available medications are minimally effective.
Cognitive impairment, apathy, urinary and faecal incontinence were more common in those with a lower MMSE score.
The overall NMS score was higher for PD-GBA than sporadic PD patients, and PD-GBA patients showed more severe cognitive dysfunction, apathy, depression and anxiety (McNeill et al. 2012a).
The clinical spectrum of the disease includes migraine with and without aura, early onset cerebrovascular events, mood disturbances, apathy, cognitive impairment and, more rarely, epilepsy [1, 2].
Lower actigraphic daytime activity has been documented in patients with cognitive impairment and apathy (Kuhlmei, Walther, Becker, Mueller, & Nikolaus, 2013).
The AES-I is an 18-item scale that assesses behavioural, emotional, and cognitive aspects of apathy.
In addition to depressive symptoms and apathy, cognitive decline such as psychomotor slowness has a negative impact on social functioning of individuals.
The complexity and burden of the treatment in persons whose symptoms are associated with cognitive difficulties and apathy may lead to treatment overload and neglect of the treatment plan provided by their physician.
These changes comprise confusional state, spatial disorientation, dizziness, drowsiness, apathy, cognitive impairment with disturbance in memory and inability to concentrate, coma, and death; such symptoms derive from an involvement of thalamic nuclei or mammillary bodies [ 10, 46, 47].
Moreover, effective treatments for apathy and cognitive decline do not currently exist.
