The differential yet concurrent contributions of motor, cognitive and affective disturbance to freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Objectives: We sought to concurrently examine the specific motor, cognitive and affective contributions to self-reported FOG symptoms.

Patients and methods: Ninety-six patients with Parkinson's disease completed the validated freezing of gait questionnaire and had their motor function scored on section three of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale questionnaire. A 5-choice reaction time task was administered in order to measure cognitive processing speed and the Beck Depression Inventory was utilised to assess affective disturbance.

Results: The results showed that after controlling disease duration and dopaminergic medication dose, the triad of motor disability, cognitive processing speed and affective symptoms were all significant independent predictors of scores on the freezing of gait questionnaire.

Conclusions: These findings suggest the need to consider the interplay between distinct motor, cognitive and affective domains in aetiological studies of freezing and the development of future therapies.