Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Relationship Between Circadian Dysfunction And Cognitive Impairment In Individuals With Parkinson's Disease, Andrew Leonard

Undergraduate Review

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a brain disorder associated with a variety of motor (e.g., rigidity, tremor) and nonmotor (e.g., cognitive impairment, sleep dysfunction) symptoms. Recent evidence suggests that PD patients may also have dysfunctional circadian rhythms: oscillators responsible for many behavioral and physiological functions (e.g., sleep-wake cycle, cognitive performance). No study to date has measured both circadian rhythms and cognitive functioning in the same group of PD patients. This was the aim of the current project. The archival data set included 34 PD patients and 12 normal control participants (NC) matched by age and education. Cognition was measured through a …