10th October 2014 - New research

TWENTY YEARS WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Having Parkinson's Disease for more than twenty years has been found to be associated with major milestones of disease disability, fractures, or being confined to a wheelchair or bed. There are a very limited number of studies on the clinical features of Parkinson's Disease twenty years after onset. So an assessment was carried out for several years on people who had Parkinson's Disease for more than twenty years

Those people considered were those who had Parkinson's Disease for 20 to 22 years. They were assessed for an average of nearly four years. Older age at onset and longer duration of Parkinson's Disease were each associated with a higher prevalence of major motor and non-motor milestones of disease disability. Confinement to a wheelchair or bed had by then occurred in just over 1 in 5 people (21%). Those factors making confinement to a wheelchair or bed were older age, postural instability and institutionalisation. Fractures occurred in 16% of people. Fractures were associated with postural instability.

The most frequent outcome was death (28%). However, given the age of diagnosis and the duration of Parkinson's Disease this might have been no more than normal. Mortality was associated with male gender, older age, dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing), orthostatic hypotension, postural instability, fractures and institutionalisation.

Reference : Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry [2014] Oct 3 [Epub ahead of print] (R.Cilia, E.Cereda, C.Klersy, M.Canesi, A.L.Zecchinelli, C.B.Mariani, S.Tesei, G.Sacilotto, N.Meucci, M.Zini, C.Ruffmann, I.U.Isaias, S.Goldwurm, G.Pezzoli) Complete abstract  For more news go to Parkinson's Disease News