title: Older Candidates for Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease Have a Higher Incidence of Psychiatric Serious Adverse Events.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the incidence of serious adverse events (SAE) of subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) in elderly patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated a group of 26 patients with PD who underwent STN-DBS at mean age 63.2 ± 3.3 years. The operated patients from the EARLYSTIM study (mean age 52.9 ± 6.6) were used as a comparison group. Incidences of SAE were compared between these groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A higher incidence of psychosis and hallucinations was found in these elderly patients compared to the younger patients in the EARLYSTIM study (p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The higher incidence of STN-DBS-related psychiatric complications underscores the need for comprehensive psychiatric pre- and postoperative assessment in older DBS candidates. However, these psychiatric SAE were transient, and the benefits of DBS clearly outweighed its adverse effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital of the University of Basel Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Vitalii V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Cozac
authors.affiliation: Memory Clinic, Felix Platter Hospital, University Center for Medicine of Aging Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ehrensperger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital of the University of Basel Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gschwandtner
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital of the University of Basel Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hatz
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital of the University of Basel Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Memory Clinic, Felix Platter Hospital, University Center for Medicine of Aging Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andreas U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Monsch
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern and University of BernBern, Switzerland; Département de Neurologie, Assistance-Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique 9503, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6 et Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) Pitié-SalpêtrièreParis, France.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuepbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital of the University of Basel Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ethan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taub
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital of the University of Basel Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fuhr
keywords: Parkinson's disease (PD); adverse events; age factors; deep brain stimulation (DBS); psychosis