Prevalence of Non‐Motor Symptoms and Non‐Motor Fluctuations in Parkinson's Disease Using the MDS‐NMS

Abstract

Background Non‐motor symptoms (NMS) are frequent in Parkinson's disease (PD). Objectives To estimate the prevalence of NMS and of non‐motor fluctuations (NMF) using the Movement Disorders Society‐Non‐Motor Rating Scale (MDS‐NMS) and other scales assessing NMS, and their relationship with sex and PD severity. Methods Cross‐sectional study with a sample of 402 PD patients. The Hoehn and Yahr staging system (HY), Clinical Impression of Severity Index for PD (CISI‐PD), MDS‐NMS (including NMF‐ subscale), Non‐Motor Symptoms scale (NMSS), and MDS‐Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS‐UPDRS) were applied. A NMS was considered present when scored ≥1. Differences in scores by sex and HY, CISI‐PD, and MDS‐UPDRS severity levels were calculated using Fisher's exact and chi‐squared tests. Results Using the MDS‐NMS, NMS were present in 99.7% of patients and the mean number of NMS was 16.13 (SD: 9.36). The most prevalent NMS was muscle, joint or back pain (67.4% of the sample) and the least prevalent was dopamine dysregulation syndrome (2.2%). Feeling sad or depressed was significantly more prevalent in women. Using the MDS‐NMS revealed more NMS than the other scales assessing NMS. NMF were present in 41% of the sample, with fatigue being the most prevalent symptom (68.5% patients with NMF), and no differences by sex. Patients with greater PD severity had higher prevalence of NMS than patients with lower severity. Conclusions Almost all patients with PD experience NMS, and many experience NMF. Prevalence rates for NMS using the MDS‐NMS are higher than on other scales used and increase with higher disease severity.

Effectiveness of Safinamide over Mood in Parkinson’s Disease Patients: Secondary Analysis of the Open-label Study SAFINONMOTOR

“…Importantly, we observed that mood improvement 6 months after starting with safinamide correlated with health-related QoL improvement. Systematic reviews of depression in epidemiologic PD studies describe a combined prevalence about 35% [ 23 ], although some publications report frequencies over 50% [ 13 , 24 ]. This prevalence may be higher in patients with disease later stages [ 22 , 25 – 27 ] or women [ 12 , 26 ], although depression‐type frequency or BDI-II score does not seem to change with disease duration [ 13 ].…”

“…Elderly subjects with executive dysfunction have a poorer response to serotonin-reuptake-inhibiting antidepressants [ 30 ]. Anxiety is even more frequent than depression in PD [ 24 ], and its presence is a predictor of worse response to antidepressants [ 31 ]. In a meta-analyses conducted by Huang et al [ 32 ], MAOB-I significantly reduced depressive symptoms, but in the subgroup analysis this decrease was significant only in patients with early PD.…”

Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: Epidemiology, Clinical Profile, Protective and Risk Factors

“…Interestingly, lower education levels also characterized PD-MCI [35]. About 10% of PD patients develop dementia every year, which is four to six times higher than that of non-PD patients [36], and the life-long prevalence of PDD is almost 80% [25,28,37,38]. Patients with PD-MCI are also more likely to eventually develop dementia [25] and to develop it earlier [39,40] than PD patients without cognitive impairment.…”

Glutamatergic transmission and receptor expression in the synucleinopathy h-α-synL62 mouse model: Effects of hydromethylthionine

“…It is characterised by bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor, and these motor symptoms are related to dopamine depletion caused by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurones [2]. PD is further associated with a broad spectrum of non-motor symptoms, experienced by most patients, such as cognitive deficits, loss of smell, and depression [3,4]. Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) has been implicated in regulating synaptic vesicle mobilization and soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex assembly and its regulatory actions are necessary to maintain homeostasis at synapses during intense activity, especially in dopaminergic neurons (reviewed in [5,6]).…”