Burden of Depression in Patients of Parkinson’s Disease Presenting to a Single Tertiary Care Institution

Abstract

Background: Depression is a commonly reported co-morbid condition in Parkinson's Disease (PD). It is often ignored while treating somatic motor manifestations of the disease.

Objective: To determine the frequency of depression in patients with Parkinson's disease

Methodology:  Study Design: Cross-sectional survey. Place & Duration of Study: Department of Neurology, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur from December 2020 to May 2021. One hundred and fifty physician-diagnosed cases of PD were recruited. We diagnosed PD through the United Kingdom Parkinson Disease Society Brain Bank criteria (UKPDSBB). Depression was defined according to ICD-10 criteria. Numerical variables like age and duration of disease were presented as Mean±SD, whereas depression and sex were presented as percentages. The chi-square test was used to compare the sex-wise distribution of depression. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis.

Results: In our study, 54 (36%) patients fulfilled the ICD-10 criteria to be labeled as suffering from Depression whereas 96 (64%) were not found to be depressed. Among the 54 patients meeting the ICD-10 criteria for depression, 24 (44.4%) were females and 30 (66.6%) were males. Of the 96 patients found not to be depressed, 36 (37.5%) were females (37.5%) and 60 were males (62.5%). (p=0.4)

Conclusion: Depression was found to be present in a significant number of patients with Parkinson's disease, with more frequency among females.