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Pain Appears Common Among Patients With Parkinson's Disease CHICAGO -- September 8, 2008 -- Pain appears to be more common in individuals with Parkinson's disease compared with those without, suggesting that pain is associated with the condition, according to a study in the September issue of Archives of Neurology. "Patients with Parkinson's disease often complain of painful sensations that may involve body parts affected and unaffected by dystonia," the authors write. "The high frequency of these pain disorders in the general population makes it hard to establish whether pain is more frequent among people with Parkinson's disease than among age-matched controls." Giovanni Defazio, MD, University of Bari, Bari, Italy, and colleagues compared 402 patients with Parkinson's disease with 317 healthy individuals who were the same age. Participants provided information about their current age, the age at which they developed Parkinson's disease, scores on disease rating scales, and details regarding any pain that was present at the time of the study and lasted for at least 3 months. Overall, pain was more common among patients with Parkinson's disease compared with controls (69.9% vs 62.8%). This was mainly attributable to dystonic pain, as rates of pain not associated with dystonia were similar among individuals with Parkinson's disease (66.4%) and those without (62.8%). "Nevertheless, we observed a significant association between Parkinson's disease and nondystonic pain, beginning after the onset of parkinsonian symptoms," the authors write. "Cramping and central neuropathic pain were more frequent among Parkinson's disease patients than controls. About one-quarter of patients who experienced pain reported pain onset before starting antiparkinsonian therapy." "These data support the hypothesis that pain begins at clinical onset of Parkinson's disease or thereafter as a nonmotor feature of Parkinson's disease," they conclude. "The findings of this study may have implications for designing studies aimed at understanding pain mechanisms in Parkinson's disease and identifying specific treatment strategies." SOURCE: Archives of Neurology E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version