Citation

Bryant MS, Rintala DH, Hou JG, Rivas SP, Fernandez AL, Lai EC, Protas EJ. Eur. Neurol. 2012; 67(6): 326-330.

Affiliation

School of Health Professions, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Tex., USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Karger Publishers)

DOI

10.1159/000335877

PMID

22555623

Abstract

Objective: To characterize non-motor symptoms in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) who experience falls compared to those who do not fall. Methods: Fifty-four individuals with PD were studied. Thirty-six were fallers and 18 were non-fallers. Fatigue was assessed by the Iowa Fatigue Scale. Excessive daytime sleepiness was assessed by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and depressive symptomatology was assessed by the short-form Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results: Compared to non-fallers, fallers had more severe disability, greater general physical fatigue (p = 0.024), lower energy levels (p = 0.042) and less productivity (p = 0.007). Fallers had more depressive symptomatology than the non-fallers (p = 0.01). Excessive daytime sleepiness was not different between the two groups (p = 0.695). Conclusions: Individuals with PD who fell had more severe motor and non-motor symptoms than those who did not fall. These non-motor symptoms included physical fatigue, energy, productivity and depressive symptomatology.

Language: en