Progression to vascular dementia of patients with mild cognitive impairment: relevance of mild parkinsonian signs

Mild parkinsonian signs (MPS) may be found among patients presenting with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but few data are available about the relation of these signs with the prospective risk for dementia. Our retrospective investigation considered a case-series of 119 MCI subjects followed over a three-year period: their baseline clinical picture has been analyzed in search of correlation between the cognito-motor profile and the final diagnosis. The population included 66 patients with amnesic MCI and 53 with an involvement of other cognitive areas (nonamnesic MCI). MPS were detected in 22 subjects (18.5%). At the first observation, MPS cases showed an higher frequency of nonamnesic MCI and more pronounced deficits at the Trail Making Test (p < 0.05). After a three-year follow-up, 48 patients had converted to dementia. The presence of MPS at the baseline evaluation was significantly related to the development of a vascular-type dementia. The study investigates the association between MPS and MCI and might indicate for these cases a greater risk for an involvement of executive functions and the subsequent development of vascular dementia.