Onset of Parkinson's disease linked with pain
- Published: 09 September 2008 15:45
- Author: Tom Downey
- More by this Author
- Last Updated: 09 September 2008 15:48
- Reader Responses
Patients with Parkinson's disease are more likely to feel pain, a study has shown.
Researchers in Italy compared 402 patients with Parkinson's disease to 317 healthy individuals of the same age.
Test subjects were ask to detail any pain present which they had felt for the last three months.
More of the Parkinson's group experienced pain than the control group, 69.9 per cent and 62.8 per cent respectively.
Much of the PD group's pain was a result of dystonia and rates of non-dystonic pain (66.4 per cent) were closer to the levels of the control group (62.8 per cent).
However, researchers are adamant that their conclusions demonstrate a significant association between the illness and pain.
The study's authors wrote: 'These data support the hypothesis that pain begins at clinical onset of Parkinson's disease or thereafter as a non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease.'
Archives of Neurology (2008) 65: 1191-1194
