Frequency of non-motor symptoms in Peruvian patients with Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: Non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease are often not well recognized in clinical practice. Non-motor symptoms questionnaire (NMSQuest) is a simple instrument that allows patients or caregivers to report non-motor symptoms in a practical manner.

Objective: We attempted to determine the prevalence of non-motor symptoms in three hundred Parkinson's disease outpatients.

Results: The mean total non-motor symptoms was 12.41, ranging from 0 to 27 of a maximum of 30. At least one was present in 99.3% of patients. A progressive increase in mean total score was observed across each 5-year interval. Depression domain scored the most "positive" answers while urinary and anxiety /memory were secondly and thirdly most prevalent respectively.

Conclusion: The large number of patients included in this study allowed evaluation of the occurrence of non-motor symptoms in early and advanced disease in addition to the relationship of these kinds of symptoms with progression of disease.