Features associated with the development of non-motor manifestations in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, predominantly characterized by the presence of motor symptoms. However, the non motor manifestations (NMM) are a frequent complaint in the PD patients. There is a lack of information about the risk factors associated with the NMM in these patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of the more common NMM in a population of PD patients and to determine the features associated with its development. We! studied 124 ambulatory PD patients. NMM were defined by the presence of neuropsychiatric manifestations, cognitive disorder, autonomic dysfunction or sleep related problems. In a multivariate analysis we found that the years of evolution of the PD and the presence of cognitive dysfunction are the risk factors for the neuropsychiatric and autonomic manifestations, whereas axial impairment is a risk factor for cognitive disorders and dyskinesias is for sleep related problems. In conclusion, this study shows that the features related to the PD progression appear as the main risk factors associated with NMM.