PLM Study Reveals Greater Burden for Younger Patients With Parkinson's Disease
 

Press Release Source: PatientsLikeMe

PatientsLikeMe Study Reveals Greater Burden for Younger Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Wednesday August 20, 3:09 pm ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080820/0426998.html

First Online Study of Non-Motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease

CAMBRIDGE, MA--(MARKET WIRE)--Aug 20, 2008 -- A recent study by PatientsLikeMe, the leading health data sharing community for patients with life-changing conditions, reveals Young-Onset Parkinson's Disease (YOPD) patients (individuals with symptom onset at 40 years or younger) experience more non-motor symptoms than those with "classic" Parkinson's disease (PD). The study, based on a survey of more than 300 patients, questioned PD and YOPD patients about 30 "non-motor symptoms" including thinking, digestion and mood. Survey results indicate YOPD patients had an average of three more non-motor symptoms than their older counterparts.

"These YOPD patients have significant family, work and financial responsibilities and they are experiencing non-motor symptoms that disrupt their everyday life," says Paul Wicks Ph.D., Research & Development Director at PatientsLikeMe and author of the study. "As more and more patients share this kind of information, we hope to illuminate the differences between these two types of the disease."

Other key study findings include:


-- The average age of symptom onset for respondents with classic
Parkinson's is 54, and the average age at onset for YOPD respondents is 33
years old.
-- YOPD patients report suffering from a number of symptoms, which could
interfere with work or driving such as daytime sleepiness (33%) or
dizziness (52%).
-- Of the non-motor symptoms listed on the survey, the most common
reported among YOPD respondents are insomnia (74%), concentration problems
(74%), sadness (67%), pain (67%) and anxiety (52%).
-- Two out of three (67%) YOPD respondents report a decreased sex drive
and 22% report difficulties having sex.

READ press release

I'm glad PLM did this, but it's too bad we have to scientifically quantify the obvious! I wish medical professionals would just pay attention to their patients instead of having to read it in a report or have it verified by a survey. But that's the way the world works!

Dr. Wicks slide presentation is available via the Blog, as is the full report:

"You can listen to a short presentation, or read our full report for a more detailed analysis of our methodology and findings, but there were several points I found particularly interesting"