Methods to detect anxiety in Parkinsons' disease

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Research

Background:

• Anxiety is a frequent comorbidity in Parkinson's disease (PD), impacting patient well-being.
• Current classification of anxiety in PD lacks standardization, partly due to varied assessment tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare different anxiety assessment tools in Parkinson's disease.
• To establish comparable cut-offs for anxiety screening across instruments.
• To evaluate the clinical relevance of anxiety classification using quality of life measures.

Main Methods:

• 122 participants with Parkinson's disease were assessed using multiple anxiety instruments.
• Youden indices were calculated to determine optimal cut-offs for each scale.
• Agreement between scales and correlation with the Parkinson's Anxiety Scale (PAS) and PDQ-39 scores were analyzed.

Main Results:

• 50% of PD patients met the anxiety threshold on the PAS (cutoff 14).
• The GAD7 (54%, cutoff 4/5) and MDS-NMS anxiety subdomain (55%, cutoff 13/14) showed good agreement with the PAS.
• Anxiety identified by standardized scales, but not self-report, correlated with poorer health-related quality of life (PDQ-39 scores).

Conclusions:

• Standardized anxiety scales with established cut-offs are more reliable for identifying anxiety in Parkinson's disease than self-report or prior diagnoses.
• Aligning cut-offs across different anxiety assessment tools can enhance comparability in PD research.
• Consistent anxiety assessment is crucial for understanding its impact on quality of life in Parkinson's disease.