Pisa syndrome in Parkinson disease
An observational multicenter Italian study
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Abstract
Objective: To estimate the prevalence of Pisa syndrome (PS) in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and to assess the association between PS and demographic and clinical variables.
Methods: In this multicenter cross-sectional study, consecutive outpatients with PD attending 21 movement disorders Italian tertiary centers were enrolled and underwent standardized clinical evaluation. PS was defined as trunk lateral deviation ≥10°. Patients with PD were compared according to the presence of PS for several demographic and clinical variables.
Results: Among 1,631 enrolled patients with PD, PS was detected in 143 patients (8.8%, 95% confidence interval 7.4%–10.3%). Patients with PS were older, had lower body mass index, longer disease duration, higher disease stages, and poorer quality of life. Falls were more frequent in the PS group as well as occurrence of “veering gait” (i.e., the progressive deviation toward one side when patient walked forward and backward with eyes closed). Patients with PS received higher daily levodopa equivalent daily dose and were more likely to be treated with combination of levodopa and dopamine agonists. Osteoporosis and arthrosis were significantly the most frequent associated medical conditions in patients with PS. Multiple explanatory variable logistic regression models confirmed the association of PS with the following variables: Hoehn and Yahr stage, ongoing combined treatment with levodopa and dopamine agonist, associated medical conditions, and presence of veering gait.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that PS is a relatively frequent and often disabling complication in PD, especially in the advanced disease stages. The association is dependent on a number of potentially relevant demographic and clinical variables.
GLOSSARY
- CI=
- confidence interval;
- DA=
- dopamine agonist;
- H&Y=
- Hoehn and Yahr;
- LEDD=
- levodopa equivalent daily dose;
- OR=
- odds ratio;
- PD=
- Parkinson disease;
- PDQ-8=
- Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire–8;
- PS=
- Pisa syndrome;
- UPDRS=
- Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale
Footnotes
↵* These authors contributed equally to this work.
Italian Pisa Syndrome Study Group coinvestigators are listed on the Neurology® Web site at Neurology.org.
Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Supplemental data at Neurology.org
- Received January 15, 2015.
- Accepted in final form July 21, 2015.
- © 2015 American Academy of Neurology
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