THE EFFECT OF DEPRENYL AND TOCOPHEROL ON COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN EARLY UNTREATED PARKINSONS-DISEASE

We conducted prospective cognitive assessments over 14 +/- 6 (mean +/- SD) months of observation as part of the multicenter trial Deprenyl a nd Tocopherol Antioxidative Therapy of Parkinsonism (DATATOP), which i nvolved 800 patients with early untreated Parkinson's disease. We admi nistered tests that measured memory, visuospatial, and frontal lobe fu nctions. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive placebo, deprenyl (10 mg/d), tocopherol (2,000 IU/d), or both deprenyl and tocopherol. W e analyzed treatment effects using annualized rates of cognitive chang e. We performed exploratory analyses to identify potential clinical an d demographic correlates of cognitive performance. There was no signif icant effect of either deprenyl or tocopherol on cognitive test perfor mance. In early untreated Parkinson's disease, cognitive performance a ppears to be stable and unrelated to either motor deterioration or tre atment with deprenyl or tocopherol.