Frailty in Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review

Parkinson's disease (PD) and frailty are two conditions that are increasingly common with advancing age, yet little is known about their relationship.

The aim of this study was to examine the co-occurrence of frailty in people with PD; to describe the measures used to assess frailty in PD, and assess the prevalence of frailty in subjects with PD.

We conducted a systematic review of Pubmed and Embase in April 2018. Studies that assessed frailty in subjects with PD were included in the review and data was extracted on the prevalence of frailty in subjects with PD. Due to heterogeneity of studies a meta-analysis was not performed.

Eight studies were included in the review, of which 7 were cross-sectional and 1 a prospective cohort study. Mean age of participants with PD in the studies ranged from 66 to 85 years. The majority (6/8) used the 5-item, Fried criteria to measure frailty, with the remainder using index-based measures. 5 studies provided data on the prevalence of frailty in PD, which ranged from 29% to 67%.

Few studies have quantified the prevalence of frailty in PD, but those that have suggest a high concurrence of these two conditions.