Abstract
Pain is a common and often disabling symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD) which has received increasing attention in recent years. Headache represents a common form of pain among the general population, but there are few studies on this symptom in PD. In 2014, our group reported a lower prevalence of headache in PD patients compared to the general population, as well as an association between the predominant side of headache and the side of initial motor signs of PD. Since then, there has been few new data on the specific issue of headache in PD patients, though several recent studies have contributed to the understanding of pain in PD, both in terms of clinical and pathophysiological aspects, including new observations on pain association with side of motor symptom onset. Here, we review those studies, and re-discuss our own findings in comparison to the current information available. A better comprehension of pain physiology in PD could facilitate the development of new therapeutic approaches, thus providing a better quality of life for PD patients.
Highlights
Pain is a common and often disabling symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD)[1]
No new published research has assessed the frequency and characteristics of headache in PD, many studies in recent years have investigated the prevalence of pain among PD patients and factors that could be related to its occurrence[4,5,6]
Tong et al[9] found an inverse association between plasmatic levels of serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and overall pain (OP) among PD patients, as well as lower plasmatic levels of both substances in PD patients when compared to healthy controls, and proposed that serotonergic dysfunction could play a role in PD, in the genesis of non-motor symptom (NMS) like pain[9]
Summary
Eduardo NC Bergamaschi[1], Fernanda C Nunes[2,3], Victor W de Oliveira[3], Alessandra Laitart[3], Maria L Benevides[3], Jean C Nunes[2,3]
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