Apathy And It's Related Factors In Parkinson's Disease

【Objective】To survey the incidence of apathy in Parkinson's disease(PD),and to explore the related factors of apathy.【Methods】60 patients with PD were investigated in the department of neurology of the first affiliated hospital of Kunming Medical College from August 2006 to March 2008.All of them were assessed by Apathy Evaluation Scale(AES),17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HAMD),Self-rating Depression Scale(SDS),and all patients were administered to Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE),Clock Drawing Task(CDT),Verbal Fluency Test(VFT),Trail Making Test-A(TMT-A).T-test,a two-way analysis of variance,X~2 test and multiple factor regression analysis were carried out to determine the factors that best accounted for the occurrence of apathy in PD.【Results】The incidence of apathy in PD was 58.33%,both apathy and depression was 35.0%,apathy without depression was 23.33%,which could exist independently without depression in PD.Statistical analysis indicated that factors accounted for the occurrence of apathy in PD were the use of dopaminergic medicines,CDT,VFT, MMSE,the severity of motor impairment and TMT-A.Those results suggested the patients with cognitive and severe motor function impairment were prone to be apathy, which could be prevented by taking dopaminergic medicines.【Conclusions】Apathy is common clinical manifestations in PD,It could be a "core" symptom of PD patients.And it is closely related with movement disorders and cognitive function.Knowledge of risk factors related to the occurrence of apathy in PD may help guide neurologists in the early prediction and treatment.