Dance for people with Parkinson's disease brings happiness, well-being, and enhanced mobility

Evidence suggests that both motor and nonmotor symptoms contribute to health status in Parkinson's disease. Less clear is how much change in health status can be expected if these clinical variables change. In addition, anxiety, separate from depression, has rarely been examined as a predictor of health status. We used hierarchical multiple regression analysis and standardized beta coefficients in a prevalent cohort of 462 patients with Parkinson's disease to explore the relative impact on health status (measured using the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire) of 5 well-recognized symptom domains in Parkinson's disease: motor signs, depression, anxiety, cognition, and other nonmotor symptoms. In the health status scores, 19.6% of variance was explained by age, number of comorbidities, disease duration, and levodopa equivalent dose. Younger age predicted worse health status. A full regression model containing baseline variables and all 5 symptom domains explained 56% of the variance in health status. The standardized beta coefficient for depression was 2.1, 1.6, and 1.3 times that of motor signs, anxiety, and other nonmotor symptoms, respectively. Our findings provide a ranking order of clinical variables for their relative impact on health status in Parkinson's disease and show that depression has more than twice the impact of motor signs on health status. Anxiety and other nonmotor symptoms are also important separate determinants of poor health status in Parkinson's disease. Our results will help to guide the development of individual care and service planning for patients with Parkinson's disease.

Background/Aims Depression, low mood and apathy can affect people with Parkinson's disease, impacting on their quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of one Popping For Parkinson's dance session on the mood of people with Parkinson's disease. Methods A total of 33 people with Parkinson's disease, with a mean age of 67.5 years (standard deviation 10.3 years), mean Parkinson's level of 1.8 (standard deviation 1.6), took part in one Popping For Parkinson's dance class at four different locations: London (UK), Hatfield (UK), New York City (USA) and Turin (Italy). Participants' mood was measured with the Profile of Mood States questionnaire at four time points: immediately before the dance class, immediately after the dance class, 24hours after the dance class and 1 week after the dance class. Results Participants' total mood score and the subscale score of vigour increased, while the subscales of tension, depression, and confusion decreased on the Profile of Mood States, significantly immediately after the dance intervention. However, at 24 hours and 1week after the dance class, mood scores did not differ significantly compared with baseline measurements. The improvements in mood immediately after the dance class did not differ depending on sex, age, previous dance experience, the location of the dance class, stage of Parkinson's disease, presence of tremor and deep brain stimulation treatment. Conclusions Participating in a Popping For Parkinson's dance class boosts mood in the short term, and this improvement lasts less than 24hours. This finding has implications for the provision of dance classes, suggesting that regular attendance may be necessary for sustained improvements. Further studies are needed to determine whether attending a series of Popping for Parkinson's classes may have longer-term effects.

The purpose of this review is to outline the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on movement disorder holistic care, particularly in the care of people with Parkinson disease (PWP). As the pandemic unfolds, a flurry of literature was published regarding the impact of COVID-19 on people with Parkinson disease including the direct impact of infection, availability of ambulatory care, loss of community-based team care, and acceptability of telemedicine. COVID-19 has impacted the care of PWP in numerous ways. Recognizing infection in PWP poses challenges. Specific long-term complications, including emerging reports of long COVID syndrome is a growing concern. Caregivers and PWP have also been impacted by COVID-19 social isolation restrictions, with radical changes to the structure of social networks and support systems globally. In a matter of weeks, the global community saw an incredible uptake in telemedicine, which brought benefits and pitfalls. As PWP adapted to virtual platforms and the changing architecture of care delivery, the pandemic amplified many preexisting inequities amongst populations and countries, exposing a new 'digital divide'.

2021 Workshop: Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Gut-Brain Axis—Parkinson's Disease

Apomorphine infusion for improving sleep in Parkinson's disease

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) develop a range of non-motor symptoms (NMS). Sleep disturbance is one of the common NMS of PD and the onset of sleep disorders often precede the onset of motor symptoms of PD. Motor symptoms of PD often receive the main clinical focus and the sleep disturbances often go unnoticed in clinical practice. Given that the prevalence of PD is higher in the elderly population, primary care physicians, geriatricians, and gerontologists are usually the first point of contact for a majority of patients with PD. Because of this, it is important that they have a clear understanding about the diagnosis and management of the sleep disturbances in PD. This review provides an overview of the full spectrum of sleep disturbances in PD that includes insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, restless leg syndrome, periodic limb movements, and obstructive sleep apnea. Although these sleep disorders may be primarily associated with PD, it is crucial to delineate the other treatable causes of sleep disturbances such as side effects of medications and physical symptoms not related to PD. This review highlights the major sleep disorders observed in patients with PD and succinctly discusses their management aspects. In addition, we have briefly described the effect of deep brain stimulation on the natural course of several sleep disorders in PD in this article.

Catastrophizing mediates the relationship between non-motor symptoms and quality of life in Parkinson's disease

ABSTRACTAim: This study evaluated the effect of ≥6 months of transdermal rotigotine on non-motor and motor symptoms of patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in Spain between September 2011 and December 2012 (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01504529). The primary efficacy variable was the change from baseline in non-motor symptoms, as assessed by changes in Parkinson's Disease Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire total scores at 6 months. Secondary endpoints included the assessment of motor symptoms by Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale III scores. Results: Data from 378 patients (mean age: 70.2 years; 56.9% male) with Parkinson's disease receiving rotigotine from were collected. Mean disease duration was 6.1 years, and mean rotigotine treatment duration was 45.6 months. Rotigotine reduced non-motor symptoms by 14.6% (mean change from baseline in Parkinson's Disease Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire: −1.5 ± 3.4; p < 0.0001). The majority of patients (58.2%) had improved non-motor symptoms at 6 months. Comparing the baseline versus study end, fewer patients experienced events in the urinary (78.6% vs. 73.3%; p = 0.0066), sleep (82.8% vs. 72.8%; p < 0.0001) and mood/cognition (77.3% vs. 66.4%; p < 0.0001) domains of the Parkinson's Disease Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire. Mean motor symptoms were reduced from baseline by 8.0% (mean change from baseline in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale III: −2.6 ± 8.0; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: In clinical practice in Spain, rotigotine may be an effective treatment to reduce the non-motor and motor symptoms in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.

Although Parkinson's disease (PD) is diagnosed on the basis of motor symptoms, including slowness of movement, tremor, rigidity and difficulties with balance and walking, now we are aware that non-motor symptoms are highly prevalent, since they can anticipate motor symptoms and can cause severe consequences. Several studies have shown that non-motor symptoms, such as depression, anxiety and apathy, psychosis (e.g., hallucinations, delusions), sleep disturbance, and pain may have a greater adverse impact on quality of life and health economics compared with motor symptoms. Non-motor symptoms can be divided into four domains: neuropsychiatric (e.g., depression, anxiety, apathy, hallucinations, dementia), autonomic (e.g., constipation, orthostatic hypotension, urinary changes, sweating abnormalities), sleep (e.g., insomnia, sleep fragmentation, excessive daytime sleepiness, rapid eye movement, sleep behavioural disorder, restless leg syndrome), and sensory dysfunction (e.g., pain, olfactory dysfunction). This review addresses diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. The causative mechanisms remain complex, since they reflect the widespread brainstem and cortical pathology of PD, with involvement of several neurotransmitters, including dopamine (DA), serotonin, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine. The diagnosis is often challenging, especially for psychiatric disorders, and in particular affective disorders, because somatic features of psychopathology may overlap with the movement disorder itself. Treatments used are limited and psychiatric drugs may not be as effective as in general population. Evidence based medicine is quite poor and it still requires well-designed clinical studies.

Parkinson's disease is a common progressive neurodegenerative disorder with both motor and non-motor symptoms. There is no clear etiology, and it has no cure. The non-motor features often precede the motor symptoms by many years, so they are considered prodromal symptoms of the disease. These symptoms include olfactory dysfunction, constipation, sleep problems, and depression. The purpose of this study is to review the literature on Parkinson's disease non-motor prodromal symptoms and their role from the early stages throughout the disease's development. The review discusses several aspects related to the prodromal features of Parkinson's disease: their prevalence in Parkinson's disease patients, the pathophysiology, the treatment, if it is possible, and the prodromal symptoms' effect on the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of the disease, in addition to their impact on patients' quality of life. More studies are required to precisely pinpoint the timing of non-motor prodromal symptoms onset and modify the diagnostic criteria for Parkinson's disease accordingly. KEYWORDS constipation, depression, gastrointestinal dysfunctions, hyposmia, olfactory dysfunction, sleep disturbances

Gender differences in motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson disease (PD) are still controversial. This study aimed to investigate gender differences in clinical characteristics in patients with early PD.This study included 415 PD patients (201 men and 214 women) with modified Hoehn-Yahr stage 1 to 3 and a disease duration of ≤5 years. Demographic information was obtained by interviews, and motor and non-motor PD symptoms were evaluated with appropriate scales.Women with PD had a shorter duration of formal education than men with PD. No significant differences were found in other demographic variables. Women with PD had significantly lower scores in Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale part III and postural tremor compared to men with PD, which was significant after controlling for formal education. No significant gender-related differences were found in scores related to other motor symptoms. Concerning non-motor symptoms, men with PD had higher scores of sexual function on the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale, which means sexual dysfunction was more severe or occurred more frequently in men with PD. Women with PD had significantly higher scores of sleep disturbance in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which was not significant after adjustment for multiple comparison.The present study suggests that women with PD had milder motor symptoms compared to men with PD, and gender differences in sexual function can be observed as non-motor symptoms.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, involving motor and non-motor symptoms (NMS). Sleep disturbances (SD) are the second most common NMS in PD and include rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), excessive daytime sleepiness and insomnia. Freezing of gait (FOG) is a gait impairment frequently reported in people with PD greatly hampering functional independence and quality of life. Presence of FOG has been associated with increased frequency and severity of NMS, including SD. Thus, the aim of this study was to systematically review the literature comparing the number of people with FOG in PD with (PD + SD) and without SD (PD-SD). By systematically searching PubMed and Web of Science databases to identify original peer-reviewed articles, 8 studies including 5251 people with PD (2025 PD + SD and 3226 PD-SD) met eligibility criteria and were included in the review. In 6 studies (4 studies investigating RBD, 2 studies investigating overall sleep quality), the group of PD + SD had higher prevalence of FOG compared with PD-SD. Although a limited number of studies, our findings suggest that PD + SD present more frequently FOG than PD-SD. More studies are required to investigate the possible mechanism underlying this association between FOG and sleep.

The clinical manifestations of drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP) and Parkinson disease (PD) are nearly indistinguishable, making it difficult to differentiate DIP from PD, especially in the early stages. We compared non-motor symptoms between patients with DIP and those with drug-naïve PD in the early stages using the Non Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS). We prospectively enrolled 28 patients with DIP, 35 patients with drug-naïve PD, and 32 controls with no history of neurological diseases or related medical problems. We investigated demographic characteristics, medical and drug history, parkinsonian motor symptoms, and non-motor symptoms. We used the NMSS to evaluate non-motor symptoms in all patients. The total NMSS scores were higher in patients with PD than those with DIP, as were the scores for certain domains, including the cardiovascular, sleep/fatigue, urinary, sexual, and miscellaneous domains. When controlling for age and gender, the correlation analysis revealed that scores for urinary symptoms (urgency, frequency and nocturia), sleep disturbances (daytime sleep, restless legs), concentration, taste or smell were significantly associated with PD. Our data suggest that non-motor symptoms, particularly urinary symptoms, excessive daytime sleepiness, restless leg syndrome, attention deficit and hyposmia may be helpful to differentiate between DIP and PD in the early stages.

Parkinson’s disease and REM sleep behavior disorder result in increased non-motor symptoms

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative condition due to the degeneration of nigral dopaminergic cells. Both motor and non-motor symptoms (NMS) of PD produce a marked impairment in PD patients' quality of life (QoL), but contrary to motor features, NMS do not improve with dopamine replacement. Novel therapeutic interventions for PD have successfully controlled most motor manifestations of PD, but the management of NMS is still challenging. Since NMS have a negative impact on the QoL of PD patients, researchers are currently looking for drugs that can modulate the activity of neurotransmitter systems other than dopamine in the hope that can alleviate NMS in PD. Among the recently approved drugs for patients experiencing fluctuations in motor symptoms, safinamide stands out as an effective add-on therapy to levodopa. Safinamide is a monoamine oxidase type-B inhibitor (MAOB-I), with proven efficacy in reducing motor fluctuations. Its distinctive mechanism of action impacts dopaminergic pathways via MAOB inhibition and glutamatergic pathways by blocking sodium and calcium channels. Findings from Phase III clinical trials, meta-analysis, post-hoc analysis, and real-life experiences indicate that safinamide benefits motor symptoms such as tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and gait. Additionally, it shows promise for improving NMS like fatigue, pain, mood, and sleep disturbances in patients with PD. In this article, the authors explore the impact of safinamide on patient-reported outcomes in PD. A thorough search was conducted on PubMed focusing on studies published between 2018 and 2023 in English. The inclusion criteria encompassed clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and reviews. The search strategy revolved around the implementation of MeSH terms related to safinamide and its impact on the quality of life in PD. Our data strongly support the improving effect on QoL, reducing the disabling NMS reported in patients with PD.