Objective: To study the prevalence of vascular parkinsonism (VP) in a general neurology outpatient department.

Background: Prevalence of vascular parkinsonism (VP) in contemporary literature varied between 2.5 % to 15.1 %. ^1,2

Methods: Study type – Prospectively observational; Study site- a tertiary care referral hospital in south India; Study period – May 2014 to Dec 2016 (30 months); Methods- diagnosis of VP was based on clinical ( bradykinesia,rigidity and/or postural instability) and/or radiological criteria ( small vessel disease and/or chronic infarcts)   

Results: Total number of new outpatient registrations – 3800; Total number of patients with Parkinson’s disease and its variant – 81(2.1%).Number of patients with VP – 25 (31%).mean age –72(in years); Gender (M:F;19:6) – Vascular risk factors were noted in 24(96%), diabetes only in 4(16%), hypertension only in 5 (20%), both diabetes and hypertension in 11(44%). Stroke was present in 8 (32%) and coronary artery disease was seen in 4(16%).  All VP patients were in higher age range (60-80) than IPD (50-75). Details of the study group patients are shown in Table. 1

Conclusions: VP is most common cause of parkinsonism after idiopathic PD in our study.  Increased prevalence compared to previous studies may be due to increased recognition of this variant in recent times and relaxed diagnostic criteria that were used to make the diagnosis which does not make presence of stroke mandatory.  However, study is limited by short duration.  

References: 1.Vascular parkinsonism: what makes it different?Gupta D, Kuruvilla A; Postgrad Med J. 2011 Dec;87(1034):829-36.

2.Vascular parkinsonism.Sibon I, Tison F;Curr Opin Neurol. 2004 Feb;17(1):49-54.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/vascular-parkinsonism-an-underdiagnosed-parkinsonian-variant-an-outpatient-study-from-a-south-indian-superspeciality-private-hospital/