Session Information
Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Session Title: Parkinsonisms and Parkinson-Plus
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Agora 3 West, Level 3
Objective: To investigate gender differences in fatigue characteristics in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Background: Fatigue is a common problem among people with Parkinson’s disease. It is known that fatigue is found more frequently among females than males in general population. Many studies have reported that females with Parkinson’s disease also developed a higher prevalence of mood changes, including fatigue compared to males. However, there is a lack of evidence on gender differences in the impact of fatigue on physical, cognitive and psychosocial domains and its severity in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Method: Ninety-six people with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (41 females and 55 males) were included in this study. The Parkinson’s Disease Fatigue Scale as a disease-specific measure was used to assess the presence of fatigue and its impact on daily function. In addition, to see the impact of fatigue on physical, cognitive and psychosocial domains, the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale was used. The severity of fatigue was assessed using the Fatigue Severity Scale. Clinical characteristics of participants were evaluated using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and Modified Hoehn and Yahr Scale.
Results: No significant difference was overserved in age (p=0.571), disease duration (p=0.803), Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (p=0.054) and Modified Hoehn and Yahr Scale (p=0.142) between females and males. Females had significantly higher scores on Parkinson’s Disease Fatigue Scale (p=0.003) and physical subscale of Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (p=0.008) compared to males. On the other hand, no significant difference was observed in cognitive (p=0.168) and psychosocial (p=0.204) subscales of Modified Fatigue Impact Scale and Fatigue Severity Scale (p=0.052).
Conclusion: The findings have shown that females had a higher prevalence of fatigue compared to males. In addition, although no significant difference was observed in fatigue severity between females and males, it negatively affects daily function, especially physical function, in females with Parkinson’s disease.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
G. Cilga, T. Kahraman, AC. Kalkan, B. Donmez Colakoglu, A. Genc. Gender differences of fatigue characteristics in people with Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2019; 34 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gender-differences-of-fatigue-characteristics-in-people-with-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed May 24, 2025.« Back to 2019 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gender-differences-of-fatigue-characteristics-in-people-with-parkinsons-disease/