Association of daily physical activity with cognition and mood disorders in treatment-naive patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

To determine the association of daily physical activity with cognition, mood disorders, and olfactory function in treatment-naive patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study subjects were 52 treatment-naive patients with early-stage PD (<\u200980 years). Daily physical activity was measured using a wearable sensor with a built-in triaxial accelerometer, and its association with cognition [mini-mental state examination (MMSE), clock-drawing test (CDT), frontal assessment battery (FAB), and behavioral assessment of the dysexecutive syndrome (BADS)], depressive symptoms [Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II)], apathy [Starkstein Apathy Scale (AS)], and olfactory function [Odor Stick Identification Test for the Japanese (OSIT-J)] was analyzed using multiple linear regression after adjustment for age, sex, and education status. The daily physical activity (0.42\u2009±\u20090.11 m/s2) of the PD group was significantly lower than that of healthy controls (p\u2009<\u20090.001). Moreover, the daily physical activity of the PD group was significantly associated with FAB (β\u2009=\u20090.337, p\u2009=\u20090.027) and BADS (β\u2009=\u20090.374, p\u2009=\u20090.017) scores, but not with MMSE, CDT, BDI-II, AS, and OSIT-J scores. The daily physical activity is significantly reduced in treatment-naive patients with early-stage PD, and the low activity correlates with frontal/executive function.