Mental impairment in Parkinson's disease. The role of anticholinergic drugs.

The trial has been carried out on 33 treated Parkinsonian patients and 14 healthy controls. A series of psychometric tests were employed in order to show a possible intellectual deterioration in Parkinsonian patients. Bender's test showed greater motor-perceptive deterioration in Parkinsonian patients respect to control, the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale evidenced in patients significant deterioration of mnesic and psychomotor capacity. When considering drug treatments patients undergoing combined treatment or anti-cholinergics alone obtained worse results in all tests made whilst patients on L-Dopa alone obtained the best results.