title: The Natural Progression of Parkinson's Disease in a Small Cohort with 15 Drug-naïve Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The studies of the natural progression of Parkinson's disease (PD) in Chinese populations have been lacking. To address this issue and obtain a preliminary data, we conducted a PD progression assessment in 15 adults with de novo PD from a nutritional intervention trial (NIT) cohort in Lin County China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the Copiah County screening questionnaire and United Kingdom Parkinson's Disease Society Brain Bank diagnostic criteria, we surveyed the available NIT cohort members in 2000 and diagnosed 86 patients as PD. In 2010, we resurveyed all PD patients and confirmed definite PD diagnosis in 15 cases with the rest of them being dead (54); having probable (10) PD or vascular Parkinsonism (3); refusing to participate (2); or being away (2). In both surveys, we used Hoehn and Yahr (HY) scale and assessed the disease progression. Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was added to the second survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2010, the average disease duration for 15 definite PD patients was 13.6 ± 7.3 years. Over a 10-year time span, 9 out of 15 patients remained at the same HY stage while the remaining 6 progressed. Rigidity (47% vs. 100%; P = 0.002) and postural instability (7% vs. 47%; P = 0.005) worsened significantly. The mean UPDRS motor scores in 2010 were 39.4 ± 23.7.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall worsening of motor function in PD seems to be the rule in this untreated cohort, and their rate of progression seemed to be slower than those reported in the western populations.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jin-Hu
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning 116044, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: You-Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index