Psychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease assessed with the SCL-90R self-reported questionnaire

The frequency of psychopathological symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is often underestimated because of the lack of comprehensive evaluation tools. A total of 486 consecutive non-demented PD patients completed the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90R) self-reported questionnaire, a validated tool for the assessment of psychopathological symptoms on nine dimensions. Somatization, depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behaviors were reported by nearly half of the PD patients. They were more likely to occur in females. Disease-related factors such as duration, severity and daily dosages, but not type of dopaminergic medications, were associated with the occurrence of these symptoms. Psychopathological features are frequent in PD and their occurrence is underlined by disease-related factors.