Background: There is a lack of awareness among physicians of the considerable disability caused by nonmotor symptoms (NMS) in PD. The aim of this work is to estimate the prevalence of NMS in a series of
patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Materials and methods: We studied 112 patients with Parkinson’s disease. Motor symptoms were scored
on the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) part III and the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) Scale.
Other symptoms were quantified with the Non-Motor Symptom Questionnaire and Scale (NMSQuest
and NMSS) as well as Minimental State Examination (MNSE).
Results: Analysis ofthe data from the NMSS showed that mood/cognition was the most commonly affected
domain (prevalence rate = 87.5%), followed by sleep disturbance/fatigue second (78.6%). However, all
other non-motor symptoms scored highly: gastrointestinal and urinary (76.8% for both), sexual dysfunction (73%), cardiovascular (70.5%) with significantly higher percentage in predominantly akinetic/rigid
patients. Perceptual problems/hallucinations (9.9%) were infrequent in this population. Dementia was
recorded in 22.3% of patients, most of them having a mild degree of dementia. UPDRS scores were
correlated with total scores in both NMSQuest and NMSS.
Conclusions: Mood/cognition, sleep disorders, GIT, and sexual disorders were common non motor manifestations in this population of PD patients.