SENSORY PERCEPTION IN PARKINSON DISEASE

Objective: To determine whether there is a complex sensory disturbance that may be contributing to the motor deficit in patients with Parkin son disease. Design: Comparison of performance by patients and healthy , age- and sex-matched subjects in tests of various sensory functions. Setting: The Center for Human Performance and Testing at a university hospital and research center. Participants: Ten subjects with Parkins on disease and 10 control subjects matched for age and sex. Main Outco me Measure: Performance on 4 subtests of the Sensory Integration and P raxis Test: finger identification, graphesthesia, localization of tact ile stimuli,and kinesthesia. Results: Data were analyzed using paired t tests for ratio data and the paired Wilcoxon test for ordinal data. Patients with Parkinson disease performed significantly worse (P=.001) than the control patients on the test of kinesthesia. There were no s ignificant differences between the 2 groups on the ether subtests. Con clusions: Without visual guidance, patients with Parkinson disease had more difficulty in perceiving the extent of a movement made to a targ et away from the body, a task requiring reliance on proprioceptive fee dback. Parkinsonian patients had no more difficulty than controls in m aking movements to a target on the surface of the body when they could use tactile sensations. Movement difficulties inpatients with Parkins on disease may relate in part to a decrease in proprioception. Activit ies that enhance kinesthetic awareness may be an important adjunct to the treatment of these patients.