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Improved Intellectual Functioning

Armand W. Loranger, PhD; John E. Lee, MD; Fletcher McDowell, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1972;26(2):163-168.

Abstract
Many individuals with Parkinson's syndrome have an intellectual impairment which is large enough to be of both practical and theoretical significance. Forty patients with moderate to severe parkinsonism were examined with the WAIS before and after 5 to 13 months treatment with 4 to 8 gm of levodopa (L-dopa) daily. Approximately half of them improved the equivalent of 10 IQ points or more. The greatest improvement occurred on the function on which they were the most impaired prior to treatment, namely, perceptual organization. Patients with lower pretreatment IQs improved more than those with higher IQs. There was little or no relationship between physical or affective improvement and intellectual improvement.

Author Affiliations
Helen Goodell; New York

From the departments of psychiatry (Dr. Lorger) and neurology (Miss Goodell, Drs. Lee and McDowell), Cornell University Medical College and the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, New York.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication May 3, 1971.

Reprint requests to the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Westchester Division, 21 Bloomingdale Rd, White Plains, NY 10605 (Dr. Loranger).

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