Parkinson's Disease Profile – A 17-Year Patient Analysis

Abstract

Objective: Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) is a progressive degenerative disease, which increases over the age of 65 years and causes disability in advanced stages. The main pathology is the degeneration of the basal ganglia, especially the substantia nigra. In the clinic, motor and non-motor findings (NMF) are seen, and treatment approach is symptomatic. Factors that increase the risk in Parkinson's disease are male gender, old age, white race, environmental conditions, trauma, vascular diseases, family history, and genetic mutations. In this study, idiopathic Parkinson's patients who came to our movement disorders outpatient clinic in the last 17 years were evaluated retrospectively. We aimed to determine the IPD profile in our region through demographic and clinical findings and treatments used and compare the results with the literature. Methods: We evaluated 1150 patients admitted to the neurology department of movement disorders outpatient clinic due to parkinsonism. Five hundred seventy-eight patients with IPD were included in the study. Demographic data such as age, sex, place of birth, place of residence (rural/urban), comorbidities, family history, and habits were recorded. Results: A total of 63.5% of the patients were male. The mean age of the patients was 68.51(SD ± 10.35) years old for males and 68.37(SD ± 11.22) years old for females, 62.61(SD ± 11.31) for males and 62.55(SD ± 12.46) for females. 66.4% of the patients had the first clinical finding as tremor, while 55.4% had the tremor as the leading complaint. It was seen that 57% of the patients had NMF. It was observed that 52.8% of the patients did not have dementia. As the clinical stage progressed, it was determined that there was a significant increase in dementia rate. Hypertension (HT) (M/F%:35,2/47,2 p=0.01) and thyroid diseases (M/F%:2.3/10.3 p=0,00) were more frequent in female patients than in male patients. Impulsive-compulsive behaviors (ICBs) which are treatment-related problems were more common in males than in females (M/F%:17.8/8.5 p=0,00). Conclusion: The results were found to be similar to the literature. In this study, we have noticed the neglected, incomplete, or inadequately questioned parameters in routine-intensive outpatient conditions. Taking these results into consideration, we had the opportunity to correct our shortcomings in our future studies.