Introduction: Pain is one of the most common non motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, it is underrecognized. We examine the prevalence of pain, characteristics, associated factors, and relation with quality of life and autonomy in a consecutive series of PD patients.
Patients and methods: Pain was identified according to International Association for the Study of Pain. Brief Pain Inventory and Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form were used.
Results: Of the 159 patients (72.31 ± 8.83 years; 51.3% female), 115 (72.3%) presented pain. Of these, 51.3% reported pain onset before PD-diagnosis, 27.8% two or more pain types, and 53% PD-related pain. Musculoskeletal (74.8%) and radicular-neuropathic (24.3%) were the types of pain most frequent. The 37.4% of the patients with pain did not received analgesic treatment. Depression was an independent predictor of pain (OR = 7.82; 95% CI = 1.151-53.183; p = 0.035). Pain was an independent predictor of worst quality of life (PDQ-39; regression coefficient: 25.53; standard error: 11.852; 95% CI = 1.48-49.57; p = 0.03) and lower autonomy (Schwab and England; regression coefficient: -13.85; standard error: 6.327; 95% CI = -26.58 to -1.2; p = 0.034).
Conclusions: Pain is very frequent in PD patients. It is associated with depression, and predicts a worst quality of life and lower autonomy for the patient.