Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of the participants of the study.
| HC (n = 26) | PD (n = 26) | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Males, n (%) | 15 (57.7) | 21 (80.8) | 0.071a |
| Age in yrs, mean (SD) | 65.2 (7.5) | 66.7 (8.9) | 0.527b |
| H&Y, median (IQR) | na | 1.5 (1–1.6) | – |
| MDS-UPDRS III score during on periods, mean (SD) | na | 19.2 (11.2) | – |
| Disease duration in yrs, median (IQR) | – | 3 (2–4) | – |
| Onset laterality, left n (%) | – | 10 (38.5) | – |
| Antiparkinsonian medications | |||
| Levodopa-containing drugs, n (%) | – | 11 (42.3) | – |
| Dopamine agonists, n (%) | 11 (42.3) | ||
| MAO-B inhibitors, n (%) | 17 (65.4) | ||
| LEDD, mean (SD) | – | 214.2 (121.5) | – |
| Education level in yrs, median (IQR) | 16 (13-18) | 13 (8–17.3) | 0.060c |
| MoCA, median (IQR) | 25.6 (24.2-27.7) | 24.3 (21.6–26.3) | 0.042c |
| TMT, Part A, median (IQR) | na | 41.5 (30.3–63.5) | – |
| TMT, Part B, median (IQR) | na | 73.5 (58.3–110.5) | – |
| TMT, B-A, median (IQR) | na | 40.0 (25.0–63.8) | – |
| Phonemic fluency, mean (SD) | na | 32.7 (9.6) | – |
| Semantic fluency, mean (SD) | na | 39.7 (10.4) | – |
HC, healthy controls; IQR, interquartile range; LEDD, Levodopa daily dose equivalent; MAO-B, monoamine oxidase-B; Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, n, number, na, not available, PD, Parkinson’s disease, SD, standard deviation, TMT, Trail Making Test, yrs, years. MoCA scores were adjusted according to Santangelo et al. (2015), TMT according to Giovagnoli et al. (1996), phonemic fluency according to Carlesimo et al. (1996) and semantic fluency according to Novelli et al. (1986). Chi-squared test (a), independent samples Student’s t-test (b), and Mann-Whitney test (c) were used to evaluate differences between PD and HC groups, as appropriate. P-values lower than 0.05 were considered significant (in bold).