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Monday, January 30, 2012

THE PREVALENCE OF PAIN IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE

14th January   2012 - New research

Movement Disorders [2012] Jan 9 [Epub ahead of print] (M.P.Broen, M.M.Braaksma, J.Patijn, W.E.Weber)

Pain has been found to occur in over two thirds of people with Parkinson's Disease. Pain has been studied more intensely as a symptom of Parkinson's Disease in recent years. However, studies on the characteristics and prevalence of pain in Parkinson's Disease have given conflicting results, prompting a systematic review of the medical literature. In the relevant studies, the frequency of pain in Parkinson's Disease ranged from 40% to 85% with an average of 67% (just over two thirds of people). Pain in Parkinson's Disease is most frequently located in the legs, with almost a half (46%) of all people with Parkinson's Disease complaining about musculoskeletal pain. The pain fluctuates with on-off periods. A lot of the pain suffered is unrelated to the biochemistry of Parkinson's Disease, and is therefore not due to it. Surprisingly, only just over half (52%) of people with Parkinson's Disease with pain used analgesics (pain killers), most often non-opioids. This means that a lot people with Parkinson's Disease who suffer pain are going without any treatment for it.

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