TY - JOUR PY - 2019// TI - Falls in persons with Parkinson's disease: do non-motor symptoms matter as much as motor symptoms? JO - Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria A1 - Alvarado-Bolaños, Alonso A1 - Cervantes-Arriaga, Amin A1 - Arredondo-Blanco, Kenia A1 - Salinas-Barboza, Karla A1 - Isais-Millán, Sara A1 - Rodríguez-Violante, Mayela SP - 761 EP - 767 VL - 77 IS - 11 N2 - INTRODUCTION: Falls are common among persons with Parkinson's disease (PD). On the other hand, predicting falls is complex as there are both generic and PD-specific contributors. In particular, the role of non-motor symptoms has been less studied.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the role of non-motor predictors of falling in persons with PD (PwP).

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in PwP recruited from a movement disorders clinic. Clinical and demographical data were collected. All PwP were assessed using the Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS). Variables were assessed at the bivariate level. Significant variables were put into a logistic regression model.

RESULTS: A total of 179 PwP were included. Overall, 16.8% of PwP had fallen in the past 12 months, with 53.3% of them being recurrent fallers. The mean number of monthly falls was 2.5 ± 3.3. Factors associated with falling in the bivariate analysis included the disease duration, Hoehn and Yahr stage, MDS-UPDRS part I and II, postural instability/gait disturbance (PIGD) subtype, NMSS urinary domain, NMSS miscellaneous domain, and non-motor severity burden (all p-values < 0.05). After multivariate analysis, only the disease duration (p = 0.03) and PIGD (p = 0.03) remained as independent risk factors.

CONCLUSION: Disease duration and the PIGD subtype were identified as relevant risk factors for falls in PwP Non-motor symptoms appear to have a less important role as risk factors for falls.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0004-282X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0004-282X20190148 ID - ref1 ER -