[Non-motor disorders in Parkinson's disease: introduction and general features].
BACKGROUND
Two hundred years ago James Parkinson accurately described the disease that bears his name today, focusing not only on motor aspects but also on non-motor symptoms suffered by these patients.


METHODS
Non-motor symptoms are prevalent and decrease the quality of life of the patients with Parkinson's disease. In recent years, some non-motor scales have been developed to avoid the problem of underdiagnosis. Moreover, some of them have been proposed as clinical predictors for Parkinson's disease and it is has been suggested that individuals with any of these non-motor symptoms and without motor manifestations of the disease could be the aim for neuroprotective therapies when they become available.


CONCLUSIONS
Non-motor symptoms are prevalent and have a great impact in the quality of life of patients. Therefore, it is important to detect and treat them. Their role as predictors of the disease is unclear yet.
Argandoña-Palacios
L
L
Hospital General Universitario de Albacete, España. luci_ap@hotmail.com
Perona-Moratalla
A B
AB
Hernández-Fernández
F
F
Díaz-Maroto
I
I
García-Muñozguren
S
S
D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires