BACKGROUNDAlthough the validity of non-motor symptoms screening questionnaire (NMSQuest) for Parkinson's disease has been verified in several recent researches, the specificity of the questionnaire is still in doubt. This study aimed to compare the non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) with a medically ill control group.

METHODSIn this study, the first comprehensive clinic-based NMS screening questionnaire for PD developed by the Parkinson's Disease Non-Motor Group (PDNMG) was used. Data from 90 PD patients and 270 sex-and age-matched control subjects, including stroke (n = 90), heart disease (n = 90) and diabetes (n = 90) were analyzed.

RESULTSCompared with control group, NMS was more common in PD; on an average, most PD patients reported more than 12 non-motor items. There was a correlation of total NMS score in PD patients with Hoehn & Yahr Staging, but not with age, sex distribution, disease duration, or age at disease onset. Additionally, depression, constipation and impaired olfaction which occurred prior to the motor symptoms of PD were reported in this study.

CONCLUSIONSNMS are more common in PD patients. There are some NMS that occurred at the preclinical stage of PD and might predict the onset of motor symptoms of PD patients.