title: Old-onset Parkinson's disease compared with young-onset disease: clinical differences and similarities.
abstract: Of 261 patients with clinically diagnosed Parkinson's disease (PD), whose age at the onset was 58.2 +/- 11.3, 46 patients with the onset age above 70 (the mean for the whole group + 1SD) were compared to 44 patients with onset age below 47 (the mean for the whole group - 1 SD). Old-onset PD patient were more susceptible to develop psychotic complications of levodopa treatment. More often had they tremor both as presenting and dominant symptom of their disease. Among young-onset PD bradykinesia was more often the dominant clinical feature, and susceptibility to levodopa induced dyskinesia was higher. In 9 cases of young-onset PD (20.5% of this group) paraesthesia was a presenting symptom, compared to only 1 patient (2%) in the group of old-onset PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Warsaw Medical Academy, Poland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friedman
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000187:drug effects; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D011605:Psychoses, Substance-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D007980:Levodopa