Spectrum of Non-Motor Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease — a Review

Abstract

Motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and their management have been evaluated in numerous studies. Four classical symptoms, including bradykinesia, tremor, rigidity, and postural abnormalities, are used to establish a clinical diagnosis of PD. However, this research is aimed at exploring the range of non-motor symptoms with an emphasis upon their ability to affect the patients with PD and their quality of life. With a slow onset of the known symptoms like tremor or rhythmic shaking of limbs called “pill-rolling tremor”, slowed movement (bradykinesia), muscle rigidity, stooped and altered posture, loss of the ability to blink or smile, and various speech and writing changes; the disease takes a leap into the non-motor symptoms like dementia, drooling, swallowing issues, difficulty urinating, and constipation. The dopaminergic pathophysiology of PD explains the anxiety, slowness of thought, fatigue, and dysphoria. Knowing the non-motor symptoms is crucial to help the clinician to make early diagnosis and to better understand the prognosis of the spectrum of this disease.

Keywords

• parkinson’s disease
• non-motor symptoms
• dementia
• cognitive impairment
• sleep disorders