Affiliations: [a] Epidemiology and Statistics Unit, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| [b] Primary Care Department, Casalecchio di Reno district, ASL Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| [c] Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, Unit of Neurology, Bellaria Hospital University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| [d] Unit of Neurology, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| [e] Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| [f] Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| [g] Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Elisa Baldin MD, MSc, Epidemiology and Statistics Unit, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Via Altura 3, 40139 Bologna, Italy. Tel.: +39 0514966198; E-mail: elisa.baldin@isnb.it.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to determine the feasibility of screening older adults attending general medical practice for features suggesting prodromal Parkinson’s disease (PD). Four general practitioners recruited 392 subjects aged ≥60 years, attending their primary clinics. A self-administered questionnaire collected information on history of probable rapid eye movements sleep behavior disorder (pRBD), constipation, risk markers for PD, and on subjective cognitive function. Olfactory function was tested. Constipation (27.8%), and hyposmia (19.9%), but not pRBD (4.3%), were more prevalent with age. Further supporting the feasibility of a longitudinal study, 299 subjects agreed to be followed.
Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, epidemiology, health policy and practice
