Prevalence, clinical manifestations, etiology, and treatment of depressionin Parkinson's disease

To determine the extent to which depression complicates Parkinson's disease (PD), the authors analyzed the literature on depression in PD in order to report on its prevalence, clinical manifestations, and treatment. By means of MEDLINE literature searches, the analysis focused on 45 PD depression st udies conducted from 1922 through 1998. The results indicate that the preva lence of depression is 31% for all PD patients. The clinical manifestations of PD depression include apathy, psychomotor retardation, memory impairmen t, pessimism, irrationality, and suicidal ideation without suicidal behavio r. PD depression is effectively treated with a variety of antidepressants, most commonly at present the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Anecd otal evidence supports the use of sertraline to treat PD depression.