COMPLICATIONS OF DISEASE AND THERAPY - A COMPARISON OF YOUNGER AND OLDER PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE

The incidence of complications associated with disease and treatment w as compared in younger versus elderly patients with Parkinson's diseas e (PD). One hundred sixty-five patient records were divided according to patient age into two groups (''younger,'' 41 to 64, and ''elderly,' ' greater than or equal to 65 years) and reviewed for the incidence of dyskinesias, fluctuations, freezing, psychosis, dementia, depression, and insomnia. Younger patients had a greater incidence of chorea (75. 8 percent vs 49.5 percent), dystonia (82.3 percent vs 49.0 percent), f luctuations (90.1 percent vs 68.1 percent), depression (73.2 percent v s 36.8 percent), and insomnia (57.9 percent vs 18.1 percent). There we re no significant differences in the incidence of freezing, dementia, or psychosis. At the time of the first adverse event, there was no dif ference in patient characteristics such as gender, lag time from disea se diagnosis to levodopa initiation, disease symptoms at the time of d iagnosis, levodopa dose, or concomitant drug use despite the fact that the older group had a longer duration of disease, higher Hoehn and Ya hr stage, an older age at onset of PD, and longer duration of levodopa use. Younger patients with PD experience a greater incidence of adver se effects than do elderly PD patients. The spectrum of adverse effect s is comparable to those of young-onset (less than or equal to 40 year s) patients.