Depression in classic versus akinetic‐rigid Parkinson's disease

We examined the prevalence of major depression and dysthymia in 78 patients with the classic variant of Parkinson's disease (PD) (that is, tremor plus rigidity and/or bradykinesia), and in 34 patients with the akinetic‐rigid variant. Although the prevalence of dysthymia was similar in both groups (classic PD, 31%; and akinetic‐rigid PD, 32%), patients with akinetic‐rigid PD had a significantly higher prevalence of major depression (38% versus 15%, respectively; p < 0.01). A stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that bradykinesia was the extrapyramidal sign with the highest correlation with Hamilton depression scale scores. Our findings demonstrate a significant association between major depression and the akinetic‐rigid type of PD.