Pattern of Nonmotor Symptoms in Patients with Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Rural Eastern India.

Background: Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) is associated with a spectrum of nonmotor symptoms (NMS) that contribute as much to the burden of the disease as the more obvious motor abnormalities. There is a paucity of literature determining the association between NMS and the severity of IPD, especially in rural eastern parts of India.

Aims of study: This study explores the frequency of NMS in patients with IPD and determines the association between NMS and the severity of IPD.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional observational study involving 65 serially enrolled IPD patients (diagnosed as per United Kingdom Parkinson's Disease Society Brain Bank Clinical Diagnostic Criteria) was conducted over a period of 18 months. The patients were evaluated for disease severity as per the Hoehn and Yahr scale (original) and were subsequently evaluated with a predesigned and validated Parkinson's Disease Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire. Pearson's Chi-squared test for independence of attributes or Fisher's exact test was used for comparison of categorical variables across the groups. Continuous variables were compared using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test.

Results: The most common presenting NMS of IPD was low mood (n = 61; 93.85%), followed by apathy (n = 59; 90.77%), impaired concentration (n = 58; 89.23%), restless leg (n = 54; 83.08%), and tenesmus (n = 54; 83.08%). A majority of the neuropsychiatric symptoms, autonomic dysfunctions, sleep abnormalities, gastrointestinal manifestations, and sensory abnormalities individually showed a statistically significant relation with the severity of IPD.

Conclusion: Common presenting NMS include neuropsychiatric manifestations, autonomic symptoms, sleep-related symptoms, and gastrointestinal manifestations. Most of the NMS are significantly related to disease severity.