PERSONALITY, DEPRESSION, AND PREMORBID LIFE-STYLE IN TWIN PAIRS DISCORDANT FOR PARKINSONS-DISEASE

Present personality traits (Freiburg personality inventory, FPI-R), de pression (van Zerssen's depression scale), and self assessed state of health were evaluated in 15 twin pairs (six monozygotic and nine dizyg otic; mean age 62.5 years) discordant for idiopathic Parkinson's disea se and in 17 unrelated healthy control subjects, The twins had additio nal questionnaire based interviews on premorbid lifestyle. For disabil ity, twins with Parkinson's disease scored lower on FPI-R than control s in ''achievement orientation'' and ''extraversion'', higher in ''inh ibitedness'', ''somatic complaints'', and ''emotionality''. They score d higher for depression and for state of health than unaffected twins and controls. For zygosity,monozygotic twins scored lower than dizygot ic twins in ''achievement orientation'', ''aggressiveness'', and ''str ain'' Monozygotic twins had less ''achievement orientation'' and ''ext raversion'' and more ''somatic complaints'' than controls. Monozygotic twins had a lower within pair difference than dizygotic twins in ''so cial orientation'', During premorbid times the affected twin with late r Parkinson's disease was estimated to have been ''less often the lead er'' in the twin pair. Although small in sample size, this twin study indicates a genetic impact for some personality features beyond the Pa rkinson's disease motor syndrome.