European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISTURBANCES IN PATIENTS WITH IDIOPATHIC PARKINSON’S DISEASE IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Neethu G.*, Jayakrishnan S. S. and Thomas Iype

ABSTRACT

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive, disabling, neurodegenerative disease which is more common in Indian population nowadays. Patients with Parkinson’s disease often present several neuropsychiatric symptoms. The objectives of the study was to find out the incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders, quality of life and medication adherence in patients with idiopathic parkinson’s disease. Study was conducted in the Department of Neurology, Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram., Kerala, India with 85 patients. It’s a Prospective cohort study with duration of six months. A written informed consent was obtained from the patient or caregiver before commencing the study. Patients were followed up for a period of 3 months. Majority of patients were in the age group 61- 70 years with a slight female predominance. Out of the 85 patients, 28 patients had neuropsychiatric symptoms. The assessment of disease severity by UPDRS and Hoehn & Yahr staging showed that the treatment has significantly improved the motor symptoms, patient’s behavior, mood and activities of daily living. Anxiety and depression was not common in the study population. The quality of life domains such as mobility, activities of daily living, emotional wellbeing and overall quality of life had significant association with the neuropsychiatric symptoms. Majority of patients showed high adherence to the medications. The study was able to describe the incidence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease patients and its association with other motor symptoms and quality of life. The present study emphasizes the importance of early detection of psychiatric symptoms such as depression which was present in most of the patients. Further research involving large sample size and long term follow up is essential to determine the extent to which improvement is achieved in motor functions, quality of life and cognitive function parkinsonism patients.

Keywords: Depression and anxiety, Medication adherence, Motor symptoms, Neuropsychiatric disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, Quality of life.