Background and aim: In spite of the overwhelming emphasis on motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease(PD), a number of studies have revealed that the non-motor symptoms including gastrointestinal, psychiatric and sleep symptoms have a greater influence on the quality of life of many patients. This study aimed to determine the frequencies of gastrointestinal symptoms in PD patients in comparison to healthy controls and to evaluate the relationship between these GI symptoms and severity of PD.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted over a 2-year period. Consecutive new patients of Parkinson’s disease were recruited at the neurology clinics of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital (MMSH).Healthy age and sex matched volunteers constituted the control group. A structured, pre-tested, close-ended questionnaire inquiring about common gastrointestinal symptoms as well as demographic, and PD characteristics was administered to all cases and controls. PD severity was assessed using the Hoehn and Yahr scale (H and Y).
Results: A total of 80 patients and 80 controls were recruited during the study period. Their age ranged between 39 and 80 years. The mean age of the patients and controls were 61.1±8.5 and 61.0 ± 8.4 years, respectively. The male to female ratio was 5:2. The most common gastrointestinal symptoms were constipation (48.8%), sialorrhea (18%), dysphagia (16.2%), difficulty in mastication (12.5%), and choking/aspiration (12.5%).When compared with age and sex-matched controls the differences in the occurrence of these symptoms were statistically significant.Constipation, dysphagia, difficult mastication, sialorrhea, and aspiration/choking were found to be more severe on the H and Y scale.
Conclusion: Significant features of gastrointestinal dysfunction in PD include constipation, sialorrhea, dysphagia, difficult mastication and choking. These symptoms were significantly associated with increasing severity of Parkinson’s disease.