[Pain in patients with Parkinson disease]

The authors established the appearance of pain in 54 (68.3%) patients suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD) with levodopa treatment, and in 16 (76.2%) PD patients without treatment. Pain preceded the motor disorders in 39% of PD patients. Pain involved most often the upper (72.2%) and the lower limbs (68.1%), as well as the paravertebral (45.8%) and the neck regions (15.2%). It was located more frequently in joints (54.0%) than in muscles (28.1%). The frequency of pain was higher in PD patients with depression (20.17%) than in those without depression (11%). At the same time, the pain was noted in 61.9% of depressive patients without treatment, as compared to 35.4% depressive PD patients following treatment. The authors discussed the potential pathophysiological mechanism of pain in PD patients.