Mentally stimulating activities associate with better cognitive performance in Parkinson disease

Subjects at risk of dementia benefit from participation in mentally stimulating activities, but no prior studies have investigated similar associations in Parkinson disease (PD). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between times spent engaging in mentally stimulating activities and cognitive functions in PD while accounting for the degree of primary neurodegenerations. PD patients (N = 41, 33 males; age 68.5 ± 7.2; Hoehn and Yahr stage 2.6 ± 0.6) completed the Community Health Activities Model Program for Seniors questionnaire, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), and [¹¹C]dihydrotetrabenazine dopaminergic and [¹¹C]piperidinyl propionate acetylcholinesterase PET imaging. The subset of mentally stimulating activity items of the Community Health Activities Model Program for Seniors questionnaire was used to develop a rating scale as primary outcome variable in this study. Findings showed that mean rating scale score of time spent in mentally stimulating activities over a 4-week timespan was 20.0 ± 8.3 h and mean MMSE score was 28.4 ± 1.9. Regression analysis showed that duration of participation in mentally stimulating activities was a significant predictor of MMSE scores (standardized β = 0.39, t = 2.8, p = 0.009; total model: F _(6,34) = 3.5, p = 0.005) independent from significant effects for cortical cholinergic activity (β = 0.35, t = 2.4, p = 0.024). Caudate nucleus dopaminergic activity, age, education, or duration of disease were not significant regressors. Post hoc analysis did not show significant effects of motor disease severity or level of physical activities. We conclude that engagement in mentally stimulating activities is associated with better cognitive abilities in PD, independent of education, severity of motor disease, nigrostriatal dopaminergic and cortical cholinergic degenerations.