Effect of dual-task interference on the hand flexibility of patients with Parkinson’s disease carrying the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene mutation

The aim of the present study was to observe the changes in hand flexibility of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the effect of dual-task interference. Patients with PD were distributed into two subgroups: the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutation PD (LRRK2(+)) and the LRRK2 mutation-free (LRRK2(−)) PD groups. The healthy controls were distributed into two subgroups: the LRRK2(+) control and the LRRK2(−) control groups. The first task was the Purdue pegboard test. The second task was to perform serial seven subtractions. Single-task and dual-task tests were performed, respectively. The numbers of pegs inserted with the dominant hand, non-dominant hand and both hands in the pegboard test and the number of correct responses in the serial seven subtractions test within 30 sec were recorded. The United Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) III score of examinees in the LRRK2(+) PD group was significantly higher than that of examinees in the LRRK2(−) PD group (P<0.05). The number of pegs inserted within 30 sec by patients with PD was significantly lower than that by the controls (P<0.05). The indicators of patients with PD, including number of variation in the subtraction test score when the dominant-hand was used in the pegboard test (NVD), number of variation in the subtraction test score when the non-dominant hand was used in the pegboard test (NVND) and number of variation in the subtraction test score when the both-hand was used in the pegboard test (NVB), were significantly different compared with those of the control group (P<0.05). The difference in the number of correct responses within 30 sec of patients with PD was significantly correlated with the UPDRSIII score (P<0.05). In conclusion, the hand flexibility of patients with PD was markedly lower than that of the controls. When both tasks were performed, the ability markedly decreased in the second cognitive task, particularly in the LRRK2(+) PD group.