Clinical and Demographic Correlates of Apathy in Parkinson's Disease

Objective: To better understand the demographic, neuropsychiatric, cognitive, and motor predictors of apathy in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Method: 112 participants (M = 68.53 years; M = 6.17 years) were administered the Apathy Scale (AS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Trail Making Test (TMT), Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Matrix Reasoning subtest, letter (F-A-S) and category (Animals) fluency, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised. Psychosis was assessed. A stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the ability of demographic factors and clinical assessments to predict nonapathetic (AS ≤ 13) versus apathetic (AS > 13) group membership.

Results: The regression analysis yielded a robust model in which older age, less education, elevated BDI-II, current psychosis, higher MDS-UPDRS Part III (motor score), and slower TMT-B performance predicted membership in the apathetic group, with a correct classification rate of 77.5% (Nagelkerke R = 0.48, p < .001). Depression (OR = 9.20, p < .001) and education (OR = 0.66, p = 0.002) contributed significantly to the overall model. A linear regression with AS score as the outcome variable was similar, but TMT-B additionally contributed significantly (p = 0.02) to the overall model, F(6, 86) = 12.02, p < .001, adjusted R = 0.42.

Conclusions: Of the factors examined, depression, education, and executive functioning were the strongest correlates of apathy in PD. These results support the idea that common underlying frontosubcortical disruptions in this population contribute to apathy, depression, and executive dysfunction.