Differentiating non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease from controls and hemifacial spasm.

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Background and aimsNon-motor symptoms (NMS) are important manifestations of Parkinson's disease (PD) that reduce patients' health-related quality of life. Some NMS may also be caused by age-related changes, or manifested as a psychological reaction to a chronic neurological condition. This case-control study compared the NMS burden among PD patients, healthy controls and hemifacial spasm (HFS) patients. In addition, we determined the NMS that discriminated between PD and non-PD subjects.Methods425 subjects were recruited from a tertiary hospital in Singapore (200 PD patients, 150 healthy controls and 75 HFS patients). NMS burden in subjects was measured using the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS).ResultsNMSS total score was significantly higher in PD patients (37.9±2.6) compared to healthy controls (11.2±0.9) (pConclusionPD patients experienced a greater overall NMS burden compared to both healthy controls and HFS patients. HFS patients demonstrated a higher NMS burden than controls, and some NMS may be common to chronic neurological conditions while others are more specific to PD. Differentiating patients using NMS domains may help refine the clinical management of NMS in PD patients.

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