Current approaches for the management of Parkinson’s disease in Chinese hospitals: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

BackgroundChinese guidelines for management of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been issued and updated regularly since 2006. We undertook a cross-sectional survey to evaluate the impact of the latest edition (2014) on current approaches to the management of PD based on previous pilot works.MethodsSeven hundred and seventeen participants, divided into 3 groups (GPs, Neurologists, and Specialists), recruited from 138 randomly chosen hospitals from 30 cities across China, participated by completing the questionnaire describing their current approaches before and after the guidelines were issued.ResultsConsiderable discrepancies in management were apparent across the three categories, with different selection of first-choice medication for PD patients. There were also variations in management of concurrent psychiatric symptoms and dementia. Notably, over 50% of participants reported improvements in PD recognition and management by following the guidelines.ConclusionsThe increasing use of Chinese clinical practice guidelines for PD management is having a positive impact on the optimization of care, which in turn offers important economic benefits.

Adherence to treatment guideline recommendations for Parkinson’s disease in Japan: A longitudinal analysis of a nationwide medical claims database between 2008 and 2016

“…The Japan Medical Data Center database contained a much greater proportion of younger patients than the MDV database as it consisted of employment insurance [15]. In our study, patients �65 years of age received L-dopa more than non-ergot DAs (30.4% with L-dopa vs. 20.8% with non-ergot DAs), which differs from studies in other countries; within the same age range, Taiwanese patients mainly received non-L-dopa non-DAs as first-line therapy (33.0% with L-dopa vs. 60.6% with non-L-dopa non-DAs) [12], and Chinese patients received L-dopa less often than DAs (26.0% vs. 46.8%) [29]. However, the prescription pattern in older patients in these studies was similar to that seen in our study.…”

Non-Coding RNAs in the Brain-Heart Axis: The Case of Parkinson’s Disease

“…In addition, the classification of advanced stages of PD involves a complicated combination of clinical, behavioral, and motor parameters into a single scale recommended by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS-UPDRS scale) to determine the extent of the disease progression [ 16 ]. PD is diagnosed through clinical tests, including extensive neurological and physical examination [ 17 ], and post-mortem neurological examination is necessary for disease confirmation [ 18 ]. Being able to identify novel methods to accurately diagnose and risk-stratify PD patients may help to move towards personalized healthcare.…”