Abstract
The association of non-motor symptoms (NMSs) with fall-related factors in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains to be further elucidated in the early stages of the disease. Eighty-six patients with less than 5 years of the onset of PD were retrospectively enrolled in the study. We assessed potential fall-related risk factors including (1) a history of falls during the past year (faller versus non-faller), (2) the fear of falling (FoF), and (3) the freezing of gait (FoG). Different types of NMSs were measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Parkinson’s disease Fatigue Scale (PFS), and the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson’s disease—Autonomic dysfunction (SCOPA-AUT). The faller group (37.2%) showed higher scores for BDI, BAI, PFS, and SCOPA-AUT, compared to the non-faller group. From logistic regression analyses, the prior history of falls was related to the gastrointestinal domain of SCOPA-AUT, FoF was associated with BAI, and gastrointestinal and urinary domains of SCOPA-AUT, and FoG was linked to BAI and gastrointestinal domain of SCOPA-AUT. In conclusion, we found that fall-related risk factors in patients with early PD were highly connected with gastrointestinal dysautonomia.
Highlights
The association of non-motor symptoms (NMSs) with fall-related factors in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains to be further elucidated in the early stages of the disease
It has been widely investigated that falls in patients with PD are associated with many factors including older age, disease duration, severe parkinsonian motor symptoms, in particular axial motor symptom, disabling dyskinesia, cognitive dysfunction, presence of a prior history of falls, fear of falling (FoF), and freezing of gait (FoG)[2,3,4,5,6,7]
Out of 86 patients with early PD, 32 patients (37.2%) reported a prior history of falls during the past year. They were categorized into the faller group, while the others were categorized into the non-faller group
Summary
The association of non-motor symptoms (NMSs) with fall-related factors in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains to be further elucidated in the early stages of the disease. It has been widely investigated that falls in patients with PD are associated with many factors including older age, disease duration, severe parkinsonian motor symptoms, in particular axial motor symptom, disabling dyskinesia, cognitive dysfunction, presence of a prior history of falls, fear of falling (FoF), and freezing of gait (FoG)[2,3,4,5,6,7]. Patients with PD might exhibit different types of non-motor symptoms (NMSs) including cognitive impairment, fatigue, anxiety, depression, cardiovascular dysfunction, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. Yr Gender-female Disease duration, yr BMI, kg/m2 Level of education, yr UPDRS-III (motor) HY stage LEDD, mg Non-motor symptoms MoCA-K (global cognition) BDI (depression) BAI (anxiety) PFS (fatigue) SCOPA-AUT (dysautonomia) Gastrointestinal (GI) domain Urinary (UR) domain Cardiovascular (CV) domain Thermoregulatory (TR) domain Pupillomotor (PM) domain Sexual (SX) domain Total score
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
