Medical healthcare use in Parkinson's disease: survey in a cohort of ambulatory patients in Italy

The study was a retrospective, cross-sectional survey in a cohort of ambulatory patients with PD, conducted by means of standard interviews.In the year before the study, 92 (70.8%) of 130 patients used medical healthcare resources: 1/5 of the patients was admitted to hospital, 1/5 to emergency room, 2/5 were visited by a non-neurology specialist, and 1/4 by the GP. Reasons were: nearly 20% programmed hospital admissions and visits, and more than 25% injuries and musculo-skeletal diseases. Other conditions typically occurring in PD (e.g. dementia, diabetes and cardio- and cerebro-vascular disease) were less frequently involved. On such occasions, drugs for PD were occasionally changed, however drug prescriptions for other indications were issued to more than 66% of the patients.Several physicians other than the neurologist may take care of PD patients on different occasions, thus emphasising the need for communication between the reference neurologist and other physicians who from time to time may visit the patient.Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease which at present has no cure, and, despite the variety of pharmacological and surgical treatment options [1-3], it usually results in severe disability. In Europe, age-adjusted prevalence rates of PD have been estimated at 1.6 per 100 population, with a steady increase in older groups, up to 3.5–3.6 in people aged 80 years and older [4]. Similar estimates have been reported for the United States [5]. In view of the increasing number of elderly people in developed countries, the prevalence of PD is expected to increase, as well.Because PD is a chronic condition, the disease burden increases as the illness progresses, due to the appearance of both disease- and drug-related problems, resulting in the extensive utilisation of both health and community services [6-10]. The high rate of prevalent comorbid conditions occurring in PD, either associated or unrelated, significantly contributes to the utilisatio