Search

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the detailed characteristics of dizziness in patients with de novo Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the clinical implications of dizziness. Methods: Ninety-three people with de novo PD were enrolled between July 2017 and August 2022 for this retrospective study. Using each representative scale, various motor and non-motor symptoms were assessed. In addition, clinical manifestations of dizziness in those patients, including its presence, type, frequency, and duration of occurrence, were investigated. Results: Thirty-nine patients with de novo PD reported dizziness, with presyncope being the most common (38%). The most common frequency was several times a week (51%). The most common duration was a few seconds (67%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that dizziness was more common in women than in men {odds ratio (OR): 3.3601, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0820–10.4351, p = 0.0361}. Dizziness was significantly related to non-motor symptoms of low global cognition (OR: 0.8372, 95% CI: 0.7285–0.9622, p = 0.0123) and severe autonomic dysfunction (OR: 1.1112, 95% CI: 1.0297–1.1991, p = 0.0067). A post-hoc analysis revealed that dizziness was only associated with cardiovascular dysautonomia (adjusted OR: 10.2377, 95% CI: 3.3053–31.7098, p < 0.0001) among several domains of dysautonomia. Conclusions: About 42% of patients with de novo PD complained of dizziness. The occurrence of dizziness in those people was highly associated with female gender women, cognitive impairment, and cardiovascular dysautonomia. These results suggest that clinicians should pay close attention when patients with PD complain of dizziness.

Background: Complaining of dizziness is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) even at the early phase of the disease. Therefore, regarding motor or non-motor symptoms, clinical implication of subjective dizziness in early Parkinsonian patients is needed to be explored. Methods: Eighty patients diagnosed with early PD (defined by disease duration of five years or less) were retrospectively enrolled for the study. Dizziness handicap inventory (DHI), the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) Functional Level Scale (FLS), and clinical features of parkinsonian motor and non-motor symptoms using representative measurements. Results: Through simple and multiple linear regression analyses, we found that both DHI and FLS were significantly and positively correlated with postural instability/gait disorder (PIGD) score but negatively with the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) score. Conclusions: We found that subjective dizziness in patients with early PD was related to not only axial symptoms of PIGD, but also global cognitive function of MoCA. Further research is required to confirm our results.

Clinicians sometimes encounter patients with Parkinson’s disease complaining of dizziness in real clinical settings. We sought to identify the relationship between self-perceived dizziness and motor or non-motor symptoms, especially in Parkinsonian patients in the early stages. Eight-six patients with less than five years of Parkinson’s disease duration were recruited. We used the dizziness handicap inventory to access self-reported dizziness in patients with early Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonian motor symptoms such as postural instability and gait difficulty and non-motor features for global cognitive function, depressive mood, anxiety state, fatigue state, and autonomic dysfunction were measured using representative scales. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that the dizziness handicap inventory score was significantly related to postural instability and gait difficulty, anxiety, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular domain of dysautonomia. In addition, the dizziness handicap inventory score was positively correlated with scores for postural instability and gait difficulty, anxiety, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular dysautonomia. We found that self-reported dizziness was highly linked to postural instability and gait difficulty, anxiety, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular dysfunctions in patients with early Parkinson’s disease. Further follow-up studies on the association between dizziness and the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease are needed.