QUESTIONNAIRE- BASED ASSESSMENT OF AU- TONOMIC DYSFUNCTION IN PARKINSON’S DIS- EASE

Questionnaire- based assessment of different auto-nomic dysfunctions was performed in 500 patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD): 273 males and 227 females, aged from 42 to 81 years and with disease duration from 2 months to 17 years. Patients with co-existing diseases affecting the autonomic nervous system (ANS) were not included in the study. The distribution of cases according to the Hoehn-Yahr scale was as follows: 41 patients at stage I, 197- at stage II, 214- at stage III and 48- at stage IV. Sixty-one patients were free of antiparkinsonian drug treatment. Three hundred and fifteen patients (63%) described one or more complaints concerning the autonomic nervous system: 16 (5%) were at stage I according to Hoehn-Yahr scale, 82 (26%) at stage II, 164 (52%) at stage III and 45 (14%) at stage IV. The most common complaints involved the gastrointestinal system- 67%, urologic- 39%, thermoregulatory- 29 % and cardiovascular- 27%. Seven patients with dysautonomic complaints receive no antipar-kinsonian medication. Our results showed that questionnaire- based assess-ment confirms the presence of dysautonomic manifestations in more than 50 % of the patients with PD. These manifestations were present even in untreated patients at the early stage of the disease. Having in mind that dysautono-mias engage practically all somatic systems with autonom-ic control, we consider that evaluation of autonomic dysfunction could contribute to the management of quality of life of PD patients