18th January 2016 - New research

20 PER CENT WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE ARE MISDIAGNOSED

An extensive study, carried out over the last 25 years, has shown that around 20% of people diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease have been misdiagnosed. The expertise of the person making the diagnosis did not make a considerable difference.

Twenty studies were assessed for the accuracy of diagnosing Parkinson's Disease. The average accuracy of diagnosing Parkinson's Disease for these studies was only 80%. For clinical diagnosis performed by non-experts the accuracy of diagnosis was even less at 73% accuracy. Accuracy of clinical diagnosis performed by movement disorders experts rose from 79% at the initial assessment to 84% after a follow-up assessment. The average accuracy of diagnosis by movement disorders experts overall was 82%.

The accuracy of diagnosing Parkinson's Disease was found to have not significantly improved in the last 25 years. The overall validity of clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease is far from satisfying. This is particularly true in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease, when the response to dopaminergic treatment is less defined and hallmarks of alternative diagnoses such as atypical Parkinsonism may not have emerged. For more concerning the methods of diagnosing Parkinson's Disease go to : Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease 

Reference : Neurology [2016] Jan 13 [Epub ahead of print] (G.Rizzo, M.Copetti, S.Arcuti, D. Martino, A.Fontana, G.Logroscino)  Complete abstract  For more news go to Parkinson's Disease News

E-MAIL NOTIFICATION : If you would like to be notified by e-mail when any new articles are added to Parkinson's Disease News,  please merely e-mail [email protected] with the message "subscribe".  No form of identity is required.  E-mail addresses are not used for any other purpose.