Chronic pain in Parkinson's disease: The cross‐sectional French DoPaMiP survey

Top Cited Papers
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Pain is a frequent, but poorly studied symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). DoPaMiP survey aimed to assess the prevalence of chronic pain in PD, to describe PD patients with chronic pain, and to record analgesic consumption. About 450 parkinsonian patients underwent structured standardized clinical examination and completed self‐reported questionnaires in a cross sectional survey. Pains related or unrelated to PD were identified according to predefined criteria. About 98 patients with other chronic disorders than PD were examined to assess if pain was more frequent in PD than in this population. Two thirds parkinsonian patients (278 of 450) had chronic pain. Twenty‐five patients with non‐chronic pain (P = 0.03), but was less frequently reported to doctors (P = 0.02), and was associated with less frequent analgesic consumption than “non‐PD‐pain.” Pain was twice more frequent in PD patients than in patients without PD after adjustment for osteo‐articular comorbidities (OR = 1.9; 95% CI 1.2–3.2). Chronic pain is frequent but underreported in PD. Awareness of this problem should be increased and the assessment of analgesic strategies improved. © 2008 Movement Disorder Society