Connection Between the Parkinson’s Disease Subtypes and Patients’ Symptoms Progression

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by a variety of symptoms. Clinicians studying movement disorders have tried to connect the variability of symptoms to underlying subtypes of PD, the two most common being tremor dominant (TD) and postural instability and gait difficulty dominant (PIGD). This paper investigates the connection between the Parkinson’s disease PIGD and TD subtypes, and patients’ symptoms progression. We present a set of symptoms closely related to each subtype as well as the patients’ statuses that indicate a switch in subtype classification. Detection of patients’ symptoms that possibly lead towards subtype change can contribute to the more personalized treatment of PD patients. The results of experiments on Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) data suggest the connection of the PIGD subtype to non-motor symptoms associated with decreased quality of life.