Screening questionnaires for parkinsonism: a systematic review.
Nabila Dahodwala1, Andrew Siderowf, Mona Baumgarten
1Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA. dahodwan@mail.med.upenn.edu
Parkinsonism & Related Disorders
|September 21, 2011
Summary
Screening questionnaires can detect symptomatic parkinsonism, but their accuracy varies. Performance is modest for early or mild cases, influenced by sample, items, and administration method.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Epidemiology
- Diagnostic Tools
Background:
- Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common, treatable movement disorder often diagnosed late.
- Screening for parkinsonism could improve early detection, treatment, and prevalence research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the validity of existing screening questionnaires for parkinsonism.
- To determine the feasibility of using these tools for PD screening.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search of PubMed and EMBASE (1980-2009).
- Included studies reporting psychometric properties of self-report parkinsonism questionnaires.
- Identified 9 questionnaires from 27 eligible studies.
Main Results:
- Sensitivity ranged from 48% (early cases) to 100% (diagnosed PD).
- Specificity ranged from 22% to 100%, affected by sample age, comorbidities, literacy, and administration.
- Physician administration improved specificity.
Conclusions:
- Screening questionnaires can identify symptomatic parkinsonism.
- Performance varies significantly based on questionnaire design, study population, and administration.
- Detection of early or mild parkinsonism using these tools is modest.
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