SCIENTIFIC HUB

Follow the evidence.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE · MED

Harm avoidance is associated with progression of parkinsonism in community-dwelling older adults: a prospective cohort study.

BMC Geriatr · 2014-04-23

DOI: 10.1186/1471-2318-14-54PMID: 24754876

Open accessResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; research-article; Multicenter Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., ExtramuralOriginal source ↗

Research overview

The text below is the source article’s original abstract under a verified reuse license. cc by

BackgroundWe tested the hypothesis that harm avoidance, a trait associated with behavioral inhibition, is associated with the rate of change in parkinsonism in older adults.MethodsAt baseline harm avoidance was assessed with a standard self-report instrument in 969 older people without dementia participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal community-based cohort study. Parkinsonism was assessed annually with a modified version of the motor section of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (mUPDRS).ResultsAverage follow-up was 5 years. A linear mixed-effects model controlling for age, sex and education showed that for an average participant (female, 80 years old at baseline, with 14 years of education and a harm avoidance score of 10), the overall severity of parkinsonism increased by about 0.05 unit/ year (Estimate, 0.054, S.E., 0.007, p ConclusionA higher level of the harm avoidance trait is associated with a more rapid progression of parkinsonism in older adults.

Scientific assessment

01

Research question

Assess the question within the original study’s scope.

02

Methods & sample

Check the source article for study design and sample details.

03

Key findings

An editorially approved findings summary is not yet published for this record.

04

Limitations

Generalizability, bias and clinical meaning require separate assessment.

Methods, samples and clinical conclusions are not inferred from bibliographic metadata.