Present and future of parkinson’s disease in Spain: Parkinson-2030 delphi project

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic progressive and irreversible disease and the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide. In Spain, it affects around 120.000–150.000 individuals, and its prevalence is estimated to increase in the future. PD has a great impact on patients’ and caregivers’ lives and also entails a substantial socioeconomic burden. The aim of the present study was to examine the current situation and the 10-year PD forecast for Spain in order to optimize and design future management strategies. This study was performed using the modified Delphi method to try to obtain a consensus among a panel of movement disorders experts. According to the panel, future PD management will improve diagnostic capacity and follow-up, it will include multidisciplinary teams, and innovative treatments will be developed. The expansion of new technologies and studies on biomarkers will have an impact on future PD management, leading to more accurate diagnoses, prognoses, and individualized therapies. However, the socio-economic impact of the disease will continue to be significant by 2030, especially for patients in advanced stages. This study highlighted the unmet needs in diagnosis and treatment and how crucial it is to establish recommendations for future diagnostic and therapeutic management of PD.This project was funded by Zambon S.A.U

Epidemiological study of mortality in epilepsy in a Spanish population.

Studies concerning mortality in epilepsy have been performed primarily in Northern-Central Europe and US. The aim of this study was to provide information about mortality in people with epilepsy in Southern European countries. We studied a Spanish prevalence and incidence cohort of 2309 patients aged ≥14 years with epilepsy who were treated in an outpatient epilepsy clinic between 2000 and 2013. The deceased were identified through Civil Registries. Causes of death were determined using death certificates, forensic autopsies, hospital reports, family practitioners, and care-givers' records. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated. In a total of 15,865 person-years of follow-up, 152 patients died, resulting in an SMR of 2.11 (95% CI 1.79-2.47), which was higher for those aged 14-24. There was also a high rate of death for symptomatic epilepsies, progressive causes (SMR=6.12, CI 3.50-9.94), and remote causes (SMR=2.62, CI 2.12-3.21). High SMRs were found for all kinds of epilepsy and for respiratory and tumoural causes. Patients who died of epilepsy itself were 12.5%. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy incidence was 0.44:1000. Death from status epilepticus incidence was 20:100,000. SMRs for external causes were of no statistical significance. This is the first epidemiological study to examine rate of mortality in epilepsy in a Southern European country. The identified mortality pattern is similar to the one provided by researchers from developed countries. The similarities between our results concerning epilepsy-related deaths and those provided by population-based studies are the result of the scarcely selected character of our study cohort