Incidence rates of PD in Norway are similar to those in other Western European and American countries. Female gender was associated with a considerably lower risk of PD and slightly delayed motor onset but had no impact on severity of parkinsonism or clinical phenotype in incident drug naïve PD, suggesting that the female gender influences on the nigrostriatal system are most pronounced in the preclinical phase of the disease.

The objective was to compare the prevalence and severity of fatigue in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with that in two control groups, one consisting of randomly chosen control subjects of the same age and sex distribution and the other consisting of patients with coxarthrosis waiting to receive total hip replacement. We also explored the possible correlation of demographic and clinical data to the presence and severity of fatigue. Sixty-six patients with PD, 131 randomly chosen controls and 79 patients with coxarthrosis, waiting to receive total hip replacement, were evaluated for fatigue. Patients and controls with a depressive mood disorder or cognitive impairment had been excluded from the study. Fatigue was measured by the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). For the patients with PD the mean total FSS score was 4.1, compared with 2.7 amongst the randomly chosen control group and 2.9 in the group consisting of patients with coxarthrosis. Fifty per cent of the patients with PD had a mean total FSS score of 4 or higher, compared with 25% in both of the two control groups. There was no correlation between pain, presence of self-reported nocturnal sleep disorders or duration of PD and fatigue. The patients with fatigue did have a more advanced disease, measured both by Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score and Hoehn and Yahr stage. Although the univariate analyses indicated that more severe parkinsonism was correlated to the symptom, the multivariate analysis showed that none of the studied variables were significant explanatory factors for fatigue. Fatigue is a common symptom in patients with PD without depression or dementia. The study indicates that fatigue is an independent symptom of the disease without relation to other motor or non-motor symptoms.

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We found that in an unselected group of PD patients there is a significant increase in deaths from pneumonia. The low frequency of PD on deceased patients' death certificates show that research based on these certificates should be evaluated with caution.

We investigated how health related quality of life (HRQL) changes over time in a population-based cohort of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and which factors predict a lower level of HRQL in these patients. Of 227 patients with PD assessed at baseline and followed prospectively, information on HRQL-status was obtained in 111 subjects 4 years and 82 patients 8 years after inclusion. HRQL was measured by the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP). Analyses were conducted using generalized estimating equation models. The NHP total score (P < 0.001) and scores in all NHP dimensions except for sleep worsened significantly during follow-up. Steepest slope was found for the domain physical mobility (3.16, 95% CI 2.39-3.92), followed by the domains social isolation (2.22, 95% CI 1.52-2.93) and emotional reactions (1.36, 95% CI 0.74-1.97). In addition to follow-up time, higher Hoehn and Yahr staging, higher Montgomery and Aasberg Depression Rating Scale scores, and presence of insomnia at baseline were associated with lower levels of overall HRQL during follow-up. We conclude that PD has an increasing impact on HRQL as the disease progresses. During long-term follow-up, deterioration in physical mobility was the most important single factor contributing to decline in HRQL in our cohort, although distress of nonmotor character as a whole outweighed the impact of distress in physical mobility on overall HRQL. More advanced disease, higher severity of depressive symptoms, and presence of insomnia were found to be important and independent predictors of poor HRQL. (c) 2008 Movement Disorder Society.

PD has a substantial negative impact on HRQL. We found a strong correlation between fatigue and high distress scores on HRQL scales in a population of patients with PD who were not depressed or demented. The diversity of symptoms and high prevalence of non-motor features, including fatigue, is important to take into account in our efforts to optimize treatment and care for this patient group.

Fatigue is one of the most common and disabling symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). Since fatigue was first described as a common feature of PD 20 years ago, little progress has been made in understanding its causes or treatment. Importantly, PD patients attending the 2013 World Parkinson Congress voted fatigue as the leading symptom in need of further research. In response, the Parkinson Disease Foundation and ProjectSpark assembled an international team of experts to create recommendations for clinical research to advance this field. The working group identified several areas where shared standards would improve research quality and foster progress including terminology, diagnostic criteria, and measurement. Terminology needs to (1) clearly distinguish fatigue from related phenomena (e.g. sleepiness, apathy, depression); (2) differentiate subjective fatigue complaints from objective performance fatigability; and (3) specify domains affected by fatigue and causal factors. We propose diagnostic criteria for PD-related fatigue to guide participant selection for clinical trials and add rigor to mechanistic studies. Recommendations are made for measurement of subjective fatigue complaints, performance fatigability, and neurophysiologic changes. We also suggest areas where future research is needed to address methodological issues and validate or optimize current practices. Many limitations in current PD-related fatigue research may be addressed by improving methodological standards, many of which are already being successfully applied in clinical fatigue research in other medical conditions (e.g. cancer, multiple sclerosis).

European persons treated for LNB have poorer health-related QoL and have more fatigue than persons without LNB.