Prevalence of Non-motor Clinical Features of Parkinson Disease in Pakistan

Aim: To highlight the frequency of non-motor clinical features in patients of Parkinson’s disease in Pakistan.

Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: Study was conducted at the neurology ward of Jinnah postgraduate medical center, Karachi during August 2019 to February 2020.

Methodology: The study participants were having age >50 years but <70 years and were diagnosed case of Parkinson's disease. Demographic data including; age, gender, residence, and duration of symptoms were collected on the preformed proforma. Depression was diagnosed by using ICD-10 while anxiety and sleep disturbance were diagnosed by using BAI and DSM-IV respectively. Data was entered into SPSS version 20.

Results: The mean ± SD of age of patients was 59.26 ± 5.95 years. The mean ± SD duration of symptoms among these patients was 2.67 ± 2.04 months while mean ± SD of MMSE (mini mental status examination) score was 24.29 ± 1.59. About two thirds (62.86%) of patients were of age 50-60 years. Male to female ratio was 1.69: 1. The main outcome variable of this study was frequency of non-motor clinical features of Parkinsonism, it was noted that depression was more prevalent with frequency of 54.3%, anxiety was 41.4% and insomnia was present in 32.9% patients of Parkinson’s disease.

Conclusion: There is a high frequency of non-motor clinical symptoms particularly depression, anxiety and insomnia among patients of Parkinson’s disease with frequency of 54.3%, 41.4% and 32.9% respectively.