Depression 'common' in early Parkinson's

Conclusion This cohort study benefits from its prospective design, following a group of people newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease across the course of two years compared to a group of healthy controls. It also benefits from being an international, multicentre study including a fairly large sample size, and from conducting regular symptom assessments using a series of validated tools. However, there was quite a high loss to follow-up. From 423 people with Parkinson’s assessed at study start, 62% were available for 12 month follow-up, and only 23% at 24 months. This is an important limitation that may affect the reliability of the results. The study demonstrates that people with Parkinson’s already at the time of diagnosis seemed to have higher symptoms of depression, anxiety, fatigue and apathy than the healthy controls. The proportion of people with Parkinson’s who had fatigue and apathy increased over the two years. Also the proportion with symptoms of psychosis, though low, did increase throughout the study. Cognitive ability deteriorated significantly over the two years of the study in people with Parkinson’s disease. The use of dopamine replacement treatment was associated with the development of new symptoms of impulse control and excessive daytime sleepiness. However, these results were based on a small sample. Therefore, the study provides us with an indication that certain mental health symptoms of depression, anxiety, fatigue and apathy may already...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Source Type: news