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New and emerging treatments for Parkinson disease
Author(s) -
Fung Victor S C
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja15.00155
Subject(s) - medicine , parkinson's disease , disease , intensive care medicine
The diagnosis of PD is the first step in its management. Even years after PD is diagnosed, patients report that “satisfaction with the explanation of the condition at diagnosis” continues to have an impact on quality of life.3 Diagnosis is not always straightforward. In a UK study, only 44% of patients with PD were initially referred to a neurologist, the other patients being referred to general physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, urologists, psychiatrists and rheumatologists. Pain was the symptom that most frequently impaired the recognition of PD, while frozen shoulder, spondylosis, depression and anxiety were among the common misdiagnoses.4 The 1997 charter of the European Parkinson’s Disease Association recommends that all patients be referred to a doctor with a special interest in PD.5