Category: Parkinsonism, Others
Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties faced by very late-onset patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), caregivers and attending physicians, and to examine the concordance rate between patients and physicians in their responses.
Background: In recent years, the number of elderly PD patients has been increasing dramatically, underscoring the importance of addressing the unique needs of elderly PD patients and their caregivers.
Method: From February to June 2023, PD patients, their caregivers, and attending physicians were surveyed to identify their top three difficulties concerning both motor and non-motor symptoms. Responses of very late-onset patients (onset age >75 years) and middle-onset patients (41-60 years) were compared. In both cases, patients with disease duration of less than 10 years were selected.
Results: Data were obtained from 193 PD patients and 80 caregivers. Responses from 28 very late-onset PD patients (age 83.0±3.6 years, HY stage 3.0±0.9) were compared with those from 22 middle-onset PD patients (age 59.8±6.1 years, HY stage 2.5±0.5). Very late-onset PD patients, their caregivers, and physicians all reported bradykinesia as the most common difficulty. Although motor symptoms were consistently reported as the troubles by both very late-onset patients and attending physicians, caregivers frequently listed nonmotor symptoms such as urinary frequency, and daytime sleepiness as burdensome caregiving distress. The attending physician reported wearing off phenomenon as a trouble of middle-onset PD patients, but it did not rank highly in very late-onset PD. When examining the concordance between all 193 patients and attending physicians regarding their concerns, attending physicians demonstrated better understanding of motor symptoms (56.1%) compared to autonomic (22.2%), psychiatric and cognitive (29.0%), sleep-related (28.6%), and sensory symptoms (25.0%).
Conclusion: Caregivers frequently listed non-motor symptoms as troubles for very old-onset PD patients. The concordance rates of responses between PD patients and attending physicians were lower for non-motor symptoms.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
S. Okusa, R. Okouchi, Y. Sakai, T. Nukariya, T. Tezuka, Y. Nihei, J. Nakahara, M. Seki. The Challenges of Very Late-Onset Parkinson’s Disease: Perspectives from Patients, Primary Caregivers and Attending Physicians. [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2024; 39 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-challenges-of-very-late-onset-parkinsons-disease-perspectives-from-patients-primary-caregivers-and-attending-physicians/. Accessed October 7, 2024.« Back to 2024 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-challenges-of-very-late-onset-parkinsons-disease-perspectives-from-patients-primary-caregivers-and-attending-physicians/