Depression Tied to Parkinson Disease, Study

A new study has found that depression is a common symptom of Parkinson's disease, but remains untreated in most of the patients.

Led by investigators of Northwestern Medicine in collaboration with the National Parkinson's Foundation, the study claims that depression - which affects many Americans at various levels - is linked to Parkinson's disease. They highlight that depression is the most prevalent non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease that is defined as the chronic neurodegenerative disorder that is linked with movement dysfunction.

"We confirmed suspicion that depression is a very common symptom in Parkinson's disease.  Nearly a quarter of the people in the study reported symptoms consistent with depression," said Danny Bega, MD, '14 GME, instructor in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology and first author of the study. "This is important because previous research has determined that depression is a major determinant of overall quality of life."

The finding is based on the analysis of the database of 7000 NPS patients with Parkinson's disease. They noticed that among patients with high levels of depressive symptoms, nearly one-third were given antidepressants before the start of the study and very few patients met social workers or mental health professionals for counseling.

The researchers focused on the rest of the patients who had depressive symptoms and did not seek any treatment before the start of the study. They were followed for a year during which less than 10 percent of them got prescriptions for antidepressants or referrals for counselling. Physicians identified depression and prescribed treatment for those with severe depression scores.

"The majority of these patients remained untreated," said Dr. Bega. "Still, the physician recognition of depression in this population was actually better than previous reports had suggested. Physicians must be more vigilant about screening patients for depression as part of a routine assessment of Parkinson's disease, and the effectiveness of different treatments for depression in this population need to be assessed."

The finding was documented in journal of Parkinson's Disease.