title: In patient's with Parkinson disease, autonomic symptoms are frequent and associated with other non-motor symptoms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Autonomic symptoms and sleep disorders are common non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease (PD), which are correlated with poor quality of life for patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the frequency of autonomic symptoms in a consecutive series of PD patients and to correlate them with other motor and non-motor symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  All consecutive non-demented PD patients who underwent an extensive evaluation including Hoehn and Yahr staging, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, Beck's Depression Inventory, Neuropsychiatric Inventory, PDQ-39 Scale, the Parkinson's diseases Sleep Scale, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and SCOPA-AUT scale were enrolled. Comorbidity has been also considered. Supine to standing position blood pressure and cardiac frequency changes were also measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  135 PD patients were included (mean age at interview 67.7; mean disease duration: 5.3 years). Patients were stratified according to mean SCOPA-AUT scale score (13.1). Those with higher SCOPA-AUT scale score were significantly older, had longer disease duration, worse disease stage, worse quality of sleep, were more severely affected, and were also taking a higher dosage of levodopa. At multivariate analysis, older age, longer disease duration, and worse quality of sleep were independently associated with higher SCOPA-AUT scale scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results remark the role of autonomic symptoms in PD. In our patient population, characterized by mild to moderate disease severity, most of the patients complained of autonomic nervous system involvement (84%). A significant association between autonomic symptoms and sleep disorders was also observed.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arnao
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cinturino
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Valentino
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Perini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mastrilli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bellavia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savettieri
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Realmuto
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina Sperimentale e Neuroscienze Cliniche (Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences), Università degli Studi di Palermo, via del Vespro, 129, Palermo, Italy. marco.damelio@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Amelio
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Autonomic symptoms; Non-motor symptoms; Parkinson’s disease; Sleep disorders