title: The frequency and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with early Parkinson's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although gastrointestinal dysfunctions occur in the majority of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), they are often unrecognized because many patients remain relatively asymptomatic in the early stage. We investigated the frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with PD using newly developed gastrointestinal symptom questionnaires.
  
  
  METHODS
  Early PD patients with a symptom duration not exceeding 3 years were included in this study. All PD patients were evaluated using a questionnaire, which consisted of three relevant domains: oropharyngoesophageal (10 items); gastric (3 items); and intestinal-anorectal (7 items). The frequency of symptoms was calculated as a proportion with an item score ≥ 2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 54 patients enrolled, 48 patients (88.9%) responded that bowel symptoms developed before the onset of Parkinsonian motor symptoms, and four patients reported that the onset of two types of symptoms (i.e., bowel and neurological) occurred approximately simultaneously, with only months between them. The frequencies of gastrointestinal symptoms are as follows: speech disturbance (40.7%), drooling (24.1%), sense of getting stuck (31.5%), choking (27.8%), globus pharyngis (16.7%), repetitive deglutition (29.6%), pain during swallowing (5.6%), food regurgitation (3.7%), acid reflux (7.4%), nausea/vomiting (11.1%), early satiety (16.7%), postprandial fullness (14.8%), epigastric soreness (9.3%), abdominal pain (3.7%), constipation (46.3%), excessive strain during defecation (33.3%), fecal incontinence (7.4%), tenesmus (20.4%), loose stool or diarrhea (3.7%), and difficulty in relaxing anal sphincter (11.1%). Two patients were scored at zero.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings confirm that gastrointestinal dysfunction occurs in early PD in relatively high frequency.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Department of Internal Medicine, Wonkwang University Sanbon Hospital, Gunpo, Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong-Wook
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Joong-Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Frequency; Gastrointestinal symptoms; Parkinson’s disease; Severity