Long-Term Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation on Non-Motor Symptoms in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an approved treatment modality for Parkinson's disease (PD) with significant improvement in motor symptoms. We aimed to study the long-term effects of DBS on non-motor symptoms (NMS) in patients with PD.

In our ambispective study, we included 36 PD patients who had undergone DBS at our institute. The demographic profile, clinical details, levodopa equivalent daily dose, motor severity scales (Unified PD Rating Scale, and Hoehn and Yahr scale), and nine non-motor scales were retrieved from the medical records department. The mean duration from time of DBS surgery to date of assessment was 51.78 ± 34.19 months. Based on this, patients were categorized into group I, whose duration from DBS surgery to date of assessment was ≤51.78 months, and Group II, with >51.78 months duration. Pre-DBS NMS scores were compared with post-DBS scores.

There were 20 patients in group I and 16 in Group II. In both groups, motor symptoms improved significantly after DBS that persisted even after 51.8 months. Significant improvement in various NMS was also observed, including daytime sleepiness, sleep quality, quality of life, depression, anxiety, and impulse control disorders (ICDs). In addition, DBS also had a favorable impact on various other non-motor symptoms such as mood, gastrointestinal, and miscellaneous domains of the Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS).

DBS, in addition to improving the motor symptoms, has long-term beneficial effects on several NMS. Thereby, it improves the quality of life in PD patients.