Parkinsonism in Older Adults and Its Association With Adverse Health Outcomes and Neuropathology.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mild parkinsonian signs have been documented in community-dwelling older adults without Parkinson's disease. We estimated the proportion of older adults with parkinsonism and examined its association with adverse health outcomes and indices of brain pathology.

Methods

Four parkinsonian signs were assessed with the motor portion of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale in 2,962 older adults who agreed to annual evaluation and brain autopsy. We used Cox proportional hazards models to examine the association of parkinsonism (two or more signs) and possible parkinsonism (one sign) with adverse health outcomes and regression models in 1,160 decedents to examine the association of parkinsonism and neuropathology.

Results

At study entry about 25% (N = 776,

SUBMITTER: Buchman AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5014188 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature