Screening for non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease using the NMSQuest scale

Abstract

The clinical picture of Parkinson's disease (PD) includes a wide range of non-motor symptoms (NMS) that substantially worsen quality of life in patients. These symptoms are poorly diagnosed because they are not emphasized by patients themselves and their relatives. The low detectability of NMS can be attributable to the lack of awareness amongst specialists about a wide range of PD symptoms and to that of time at a visit for physician advice. Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of using the screening scale to timely detect NMS in PD. Patients and methods. Examinations were made in 2 patient groups: 1) 95 PD patients aged 47 to 83 years (mean age, 64.91±7.66 years) (a study group); 2) 37 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals aged 48 to 77 years (mean age, 62.22±6.58 years) without signs of PD and PD of another etiology (a control group). To identify NMS, all the study participants filled out the NMSQuest scale. Results. The mean number of NMS per patient with PD was 9.13±4.81 in the study group and 5.43±3.4 in the control group (p<0.001). Symptoms, such as hypersalivation, hyposmia, dysphagia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, excessive sweating, decreased motivation, and a feeling of sadness, were statistically significantly more common in PD. There were no significant differences between the number of NMSs and the form of PD or convincing data on their relationship to age, disease stage, and the total equivalent dose of taken antiparkinsonian drugs (calculated with reference to levodopa). Conclusion. The use of questionnaires in patients with PD allows the timely detection of the majority of NMSs. Given the limited time for counseling the patient, especially at an outpatient stage, the questionnaires should be filled out by the patient while he/she is waiting for a doctor's consultation.