Objective: To reveal the prevalence of the non-motors symptoms and clinical features differences between Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with and without freezing of gait (FOG).

Background: Many PD patients are incapacitated by FOG. The relationship between FOG and dopaminergic system is not yet well-understood. On the other hand, there is increasing evidence recently that many non-motor symptoms in PD are caused by non-dopaminergic as well as dopaminergic system. We are intended to evaluate the correlation of non-motor symptoms and FOG in PD patients.

Methods: According to the part I question of the New Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (NFOGQ): "Did you experience ‘freezing episodes’ over the past month?", patients were classified into freezers or non-freezers. Unified Parkinson’s disease Rating Scale, Hoehn &Yahr stage, Mini-Mental State Examination, Non-motor symptom assessment scale for PD, and The 39-Item Parkinson’s disease Questionnaire were used to evaluation. Clinical data including age, onset age, gender, disease duration, years of education, and handedness were also recorded.

Results: Data from 29 patients were analyzed, 20 (70%) were freezers. Overall, the freezers had more advanced disease stages, worse quality of life and more urinary symptoms compared to non-freezers.

Conclusions: Our data suggest FOG occurred in more advanced PD patients and is associated with greater disease disability, more urinary symptoms and worse quality of life. However, larger population-based clinical trials are required to confirm our findings.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-non-motors-symptoms-in-parkinsons-disease-patients-with-freezing-of-gait/