The relation of falls to fatigue, depression and daytime sleepiness in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize non-motor symptoms in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) who experience falls compared to those who do not fall.

METHODS

Fifty-four individuals with PD were studied. Thirty-six were fallers and 18 were non-fallers. Fatigue was assessed by the Iowa Fatigue Scale. Excessive daytime sleepiness was assessed by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and depressive symptomatology was assessed by the short-form Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.

RESULTS

Compared to non-fallers, fallers had more severe disability, greater general physical fatigue (p = 0.024), lower energy levels (p = 0.042) and less productivity (p = 0.007). Fallers had more depressive symptomatology than the non-fallers (p = 0.01). Excessive daytime sleepiness was not different between the two groups (p = 0.695).

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals with PD who fell had more severe motor and non-motor symptoms than those who did not fall. These non-motor symptoms included physical fatigue, energy, productivity and depressive symptomatology.