Independent Validation of the SEND-PD and Correlation with the MDS-UPDRS Part IA

Introduction. Neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease can be assessed by the MDS-UPDRS part IA. The Scale for Evaluation of Neuropsychiatric Disorders in Parkinson's disease (SEND-PD) has been recently developed to assess the severity of some neuropsychiatric symptoms. The objective of this study is to compare the performance of the SEND-PD with the corresponding items of the MDS-UPDRS part IA. Methods. Patients with Parkinson's disease were evaluated using the MDS-UPDRS and the SEND-PD by independent raters. Partial SEND-PD and neuropsychiatric MDS-UPDRS part IA were constructed with equivalent items for comparison. Results. A total of 260 consecutive patients were included. Overall, 61.2% of the patients did not report any psychotic symptom and 83.5% did not report any ICD symptom. On the other hand, 78.5% of the patients did report at least one symptom related to apathy, depression, or anxiety. The partial SEND-PD score was 2.9 ± 3.1 (range from 0 to 16). The neuropsychiatric MDS-UPDRS part IA score was 2.9 ± 3 (range from 0 to 14). The correlation coefficient between corresponding items ranged from 0.67 to 0.98 and between both summary indexes was r s = 0.93 (all, P < 0.001). Conclusion. A high association between equivalent items of the SEND-PD and the MDS-UPDRS was found.S

Respuesta ortostática de la tensión arterial de pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson inicial

Objetivo: Evaluar la respuesta ortostática de la tensión arterial de forma no invasiva en pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson inicial leve a moderada atendidos en el Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía. Método: Se realizó un estudio de corte transversal con grupo control. Se incluyeron pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson de menos de 5 años de evolución y severidad leve a moderada así como controles sanos. Se excluyeron sujetos con diabetes mellitus, hipertensión arterial o diagnóstico de disautonomía. Se realizaron mediciones de la tensión arterial en posición supina, y posteriormente a los3y5minde asumir bipedestación. Resultados: Se incluyeron 70 sujetos con enfermedad de Parkinson y 145 controles. No se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en género y edad entre ambos grupos. No hubo diferencias en el cambio de la tensión arterial sistólica entre los grupos a los 3 min pero sí a los 5min (p = 0.03). En el caso de la tensión diastólica existió diferencia entre ambos grupos a los 3 y 5min (p = 0.02 y p = 0.007). Conclusión: Los pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson inicial presentan diferencias en la respuesta ortostática con respecto a controles sanos, siendo de mayor relevancia a los 5 min de bipedestación

Prevalence and correlates of sleep disorders in Parkinson’s disease: a polysomnographic study

Objective Sleep disorders in Parkinson’s disease are very common. Polysomnography (PSG) is considered the gold standard for diagnosis. The aim of the present study is to assess the prevalence of nocturnal sleep disorders diagnosed by polysomnography and to determine the associated clinical factors. Method A total of 120 patients with Parkinson’s disease were included. All patients underwent a standardized overnight, single night polysomnography. Results Ninety-four (78.3%) patients had an abnormal PSG. Half of the patients fulfilled criteria for sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS); rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD) was present in 37.5%. Characteristics associated with SAHS were age (p = 0.049) and body mass index (p = 0.016). Regarding RBD, age (p < 0.001), left motor onset (p = 0.047) and levodopa equivalent dose (p = 0.002) were the main predictors. Conclusion SAHS and RBD were the most frequent sleep disorders. Higher levodopa equivalent dose and body mass index appear to be risk factors for RBD and SAHS, respectively

Overweight is more prevalent in patients with Parkinson's disease

Underweight and malnutrition are well documented in Parkinson's disease (PD), while overweight has been less reported. We carried out a cross-sectional study including 177 healthy controls and 177 PD patients attending a tertiary care center. We recorded weight and height for all participants. A statistically significant difference was found in body mass index (BMI) between controls and PD patients (29.1±5.4 versus 27.2±4.7, p<0.001). In the PD Group, two patients were underweight, 32.7% were within normal range, 46.9% had overweight, and 19.2% were obese. Overweight and normal weight were more prevalent in the PD Group (p=<0.01 and <0.001, respectively) when compared to controls. In conclusion, overweight/obesity are common among patients with PD, while underweight is almost negligible

Low specificity and sensitivity of smell identification testing for the diagnosis of Parkinson?s disease

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine if the University of Pennsylvania’s Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is an accurate diagnostic tool for olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Method: We included 138 non-demented PD subjects and 175 control subjects matched by gender. Smell identification was tested using UPSIT. Results: The mean number of UPSIT items correctly identified by controls was 27.52±5.88; the mean score for PD subjects was 19.66±6.08 (p=<0.001). UPSIT sensitivity was 79.7% with a specificity of 68.5% using a cut-off score of ≤25. The overall accuracy for the diagnosis of PD was of 75.3%. Conclusion: UPSIT accuracy and specificity were lower than what has been previously reported. Our data demonstrates that 17.5% of items of the UPSIT were not well identified by healthy controls. Further research of the identification of a truly cross-cultural test is warranted