Scoliosis in patients with Parkinson's disease.
OBJECTIVE
Scoliosis is more common in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) than in the general elderly population. We compared clinical characteristics between PD patients with and without scoliosis, to identify the relationship between the direction of scoliosis and the laterality of the dominant symptoms of PD. We also studied the associations between dopaminergic pharmacotherapy and scoliosis (defined by a spinal curvature deviation of 10 degrees or larger).


METHODS
The study population comprised 97 patients (42 men and 55 women) with idiopathic PD. All of the patients submitted to a whole-spine scanograph to allow measurement of the degree of scoliosis by Cobb's method.


RESULTS
True scoliosis was found in 32 of the 97 PD patients, and was observed more frequently in women than in men (28 vs. 4, respectively; p=0.006). The age of patients without scoliosis was significantly lower than that of those with scoliosis (66.5+/-9.2 years vs. 72.8+/-7.3 years, respectively, mean+/-SD, p<0.001). There was no correlation between PD symptom laterality and scoliosis. The rate of occurrence of scoliosis did not differ between de novo and levodopa (L-dopa)-treated patients.


CONCLUSIONS
We suggest that neither L-dopa treatment nor the laterality of the initial symptoms of PD is related to the appearance of scoliosis.
Baik
Jong Sam
JS
Department of Neurology, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Jeong Yeon
JY
Park
Joong Hyun
JH
Han
Sang Won
SW
Park
Jae Hyeon
JH
Lee
Myung Sik
MS