Characteristics and influencing factors of non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

To assess the characteristics and influencing factors of non-motor symptoms (NMS) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). A total of 111 patients with PD and 46 healthy controls (HC) matched with age, gender, education status and occupation were investigated by NMS questionnaire. They were all outpatients of Beijing hospital. The distribution of NMS items was analyzed between two groups. And their clinical characteristics were also collected to assess the dominant influencing factors for the prevalence of NMS. There was significant difference in the prevalence of NMS between two groups (P < 0.01). Each PD patient had an average of 12 NMS throughout the disease stages and the number of NMS was increasing with the degree of disease severity. UPDRS-III (united Parkinson's disease rating scale), daily dose of levodopa and age showed a positive correlation with NMS-T (NMS Total) and they accounted for 26.9% of the variance of NMS-T. Daily dose of levodopa, Hoehn-Yahr stage, UPDRS-III and NMS-T showed a positive correlation with UPDRS-II and they accounted for 70.3% variance of UPDRS-II. NMS are more commonly seen in PD patients than in controls. NMS is present throughout every stages of PD and its number increases with the degree of disease severity and age. The quality of life is impaired significantly by NMS in PD patients.