Disclosures: Peter D. Vu, BS: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with cognitive impairment. One potential nonpharmacological treatment of cognition is the use of everyday technologies to support day-to-day tasks. We use the term Technological Reserve (TR) to described the development of technology-enriched habits and environments to support cognitive functioning. To date, there has been little work studying how TR might function in individuals with PD. Thus, in the current pilot study we: 1) describe how individuals with PD are using smartphones as cognitive-prosthetics, and 2) explore if high cognitive-prosthetic use is associated with lower perceived day-to-day cognitive difficulty.

Design: All participants owned a smartphone. Neuropsychological testing was used to categorize participants as having a mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (N=7) or normal cognition (N=11). Participants completed a modified Media and Technology Usage scale with an emphasis on cognitive-prosthetic features of the device, such as to-do lists and reminders. Collateral reporters completed a questionnaire describing the participant’s day-to-day cognitive difficulties. Setting : Neuropsychology department at a tertiary, referral hospital. Participants : 18 participants with PD and their collaterals participated.

Interventions: None – a cross-sectional study.

Main Outcome Measures: The care partner reported everyday cognitive difficulties (ECOG scale).

Results: The use of smartphones as cognitive-prosthetic features was relatively high. For example, 38.9% of participants reported calendar use and 44% reported using alarms daily. Participants who reported higher cognitive-prosthetic use tended to have fewer day-to-day cognitive difficulties reported by caregivers (Cohen’s D=-0.59). When those with MCI (N=7) were considered separately, the trend held with less perceived day-to-day cognitive difficulties in those reporting high cognitive-prosthetic feature use (Cohen’s D=-1.58). Conclusions: Overall, the results of this pilot study suggest that the use of smartphone technologies may help buffer perceived day-to-day cognitive difficulties in individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. Technological interventions may be a way of modifying the impact of cognitive decline on important patient-centered outcomes.

Level of Evidence: Level II

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/technological-reserve-in-parkinsons-disease-a-pilot-study-of-smartphones-as-cognitive-prosthetic/