The impact of and the factors associated with drooling in Parkinson's disease.
We administered a 7-question survey on drooling to PD patients and age-matched controls. Each subject was assigned a drooling severity score and categorized as a "drooler" or a "non-drooler". The age, disease duration, motor scores, quality of life (PDQ-39), and levodopa equivalent daily dosage (LEDD) were compared between PD droolers vs. PD non-droolers. 58 PD patients and 51 age-matched controls participated. In PD patients, the mean: disease duration was 10.96 years (SD 8.66) and UPDRS on motor score was 30.76 (SD 10.57). The drooling severity score was significantly different between patients vs. controls (3.41 vs. .58; p < .01). 14% of controls vs. 59% of patients were droolers (p < .01). PD droolers scored worse on the ADL subscale of the PDQ-39 (p = .031). Furthermore, PD droolers had significant difficulty speaking (7.27% vs. 0%; p < .01); eating (3.64% vs. 0%; p = .01); and socially interacting (12.73% vs. 0%; p < .01) compared to PD non-droolers. Interestingly, the hallucination component of the UPDRS Part I was significantly correlated with being a drooler (p = .016). None of the other variables have significant effect on drooling severity scores. There is a high prevalence of drooling among PD patients compared to controls. PD droolers had worse quality of life and had more difficulty speaking, eating and socially interacting compared to PD non-droolers. Experiencing hallucinations was the only factor that correlated with being a drooler and it may be confounded by medications.
Leibner
Joshua
J
College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
Ramjit
Amit
A
Sedig
Laura
L
Dai
Yunfeng
Y
Wu
Samuel S
SS
Jacobson
Charles
C
Okun
Michael S
MS
Rodriguez
Ramon L
RL
Malaty
Irene A
IA
Fernandez
Hubert H
HH
D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012798:Sialorrhea / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires