Parkinson’s disease dementia is a critical stage of the disease because that has a negative impact on the quality of life and functional independence in activities daily living. How the cognition progress to dementia is a key to be explored. The cognitive impairment shows two profiles: cortical (memory encoding, visuospatial abilities, and language) and subcortical, with a dysexecutive syndrome that includes deficits in recognition memory, attention processes, and visual perception as well as visual hallucinations and cognitive fluctuations. Behavioral problems such as apathy, anxiety, depression, and impulse control disorders take a significant part in the loss of autonomy and progression of the disease. To detect the risk of Parkinson’s disease dementia development, the integral evaluation of patients in all stages of the disease should consider the interplay of genetic and epigenetic factors, motor subtypes, and non-motor symptoms (NMS) in order to implement different therapeutics and supportive strategies when they are likely to have efficacy.
Part of the book: Dementia in Parkinson’s Disease