14th July 2014 - New research

FREQUENT MISDIAGNOSIS OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Neurology [2014] Jun 27[Epub ahead of print] (C.H.Adler, T.G.Beach, J.G.Hentz, H.A.Shill, J.N.Caviness, E.Driver-Dunckley, M.N.Sabbagh, L.I.Sue, S.A.Jacobson, C.M.Belden, B.N. Dugger)  Complete abstract

Researchers aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease using neuropathologic diagnosis as the standard. The accuracy of diagnosis was found to be very poor.

Data were used to determine the predictive value of a clinical Parkinson's Disease diagnosis, using two clinical diagnostic confidence levels : PossPD (never treated or not clearly responsive) and ProbPD (responsive to medications).

Using neuropathologic findings of Parkinson's Disease as the standard, this study established a finding of only 26% accuracy for a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease in untreated patients, 53% accuracy in early Parkinson's Disease of less than five years duration that was responsive to medication, and 85% diagnostic accuracy in Parkinson's Disease of longer duration that was medication-responsive. Clinical variables that improved diagnostic accuracy were medication response, motor fluctuations, dyskinesias, and hyposmia (reduced sense of smell).ic accuracy in Parkinson's Disease of longer duration that was medication-responsive.

This study showed that a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease identifies people who will have pathologically confirmed Parkinson's Disease with a sensitivity of 88% and specificity of 68%. For more information concerning the diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease go to Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease For more news go to Parkinson's Disease News.