Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disease affecting movement. While people with Parkinson's disease have a higher risk of developing dementia than those without Parkinson's disease, the majority will remain unaffected.
How dementia occurs in Parkinson's disease is not yet understood. It may be that the Lewy bodies, which occur in nerve cells in the brains of people with Parkinson's act the same way as they do in people with dementia with Lewy bodies. Also, side effects of certain drugs for Parkinson's may exacerbate symptoms of dementia.
The most common symptoms of dementia associated with Parkinson's disease are memory loss, the loss of ability to reason and to carry out normal everyday tasks, obsession and loss of emotional control. Visual hallucinations may occur and symptoms often fluctuate.
