Impulsivity in Parkinson’s Disease

A BSTRACT Introduction/Aims: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by cardinal motor and nonmotor symptoms. Impulse control disorders are common neuropsychiatric manifestations in patients with PD (pwPD) under dopaminergic therapy. However, impulsivity is an underestimated symptom. Hence, the present study aimed to evaluate the impulsivity in pwPD. Methods: Forty-seven adults who were diagnosed with having PD according to the Queen Square Brain Bank criteria for PD diagnosis and 30 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled in the study. The sociodemographic data of the study participants and disease characteristics of the patients were recorded. All participants completed the Barratt impulsiveness scale (BIS). BIS scores were statistically analyzed between the groups. Results: The results revealed no significant differences between the patients and controls in terms of age ( P > 0.05) or sex ( P > 0.05). The total BIS scores were higher in the PD group than in the healthy controls ( t = 2.1, P = 0.038). The items of BIS and attentional impulsivity scores were higher in the pwPD than in the controls ( t = 2.8, P = 0.005), but there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of motor and nonplanning impulsivity (z = 1.8, P = 0.07; and t = 1.1, P = 0.31, respectively). Discussion: Our results indicate that attentional impulsivity is an important clinical characteristic of pwPD, even in the absence of impulse control disorders. Conclusion: Further studies are required to confirm these findings in view of personalized PD treatment.