Abstract

MELO, Luciano Magalhães; CHIEN, Hsin Fen  and  BARBOSA, Egberto Reis. Identification of wearing-off manifestations (reduction of levodopa effect) in Parkinson's disease using specific questionnaire and comparison of the results with routine ambulatory evaluations. Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr. [online]. 2010, vol.68, n.4, pp. 506-510. ISSN 0004-282X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0004-282X2010000400007.

This study had the objective to verify if the presence of wearing-off phenomenon in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) could be better identified by the administration of the "Wearing-off Questionnaire Card" (QC). The participant patients were first evaluated by resident doctors in neurology and then invited to answer the QC for detection of motor and nonmotor wearing-off manifestations. Seventy and nine patients were enclosed in the study. The questionnaire revealed that 63 patients (80%) presented wearing-off, whereas the consultation by the resident doctors only identified 33 subjects (41%) with this phenomenon. The motor wearing-off manifestations were more frequent then the nonmotor. We conclude that the administration of the QC in patients with PD may be a useful tool for the diagnosis of wearing-off phenomena.

Keywords : Parkinson's disease; wearing-off; nonmotor fluctuations; screening.