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Presence of dementia is a contraindication for DBS treatment of Parkinson's disease. Recent evidence suggests that borderline cognitive function, as measured with a common screening measure, the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, has a negative impact on quality of life (QoL) after DBS of the STN.

We attempted to replicate and extend this finding in a larger group of patients with a wider range of preoperative global cognitive performance.

Our data indicate that performance on the screening measure is not associated with QoL or medical outcomes, even with scores well below the cutoff for identifying dementia.

This cognitive screening measure lacks sufficient sensitivity to warrant its use in predicting which patients will show QoL benefit from DBS. © 2015 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society