Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoka, VA, USA
| [b] Health Analytics Research, Carilion Clinic, Roanoka, VA, USA
| [c] Clinical Neuropsychology, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoka, VA, USA
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Joseph M. Ferrara, MD, Department of Neurology, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine,
3 Riverside Circle, Roanoke, VA, USA. Tel.: +1 540 224 5170; Fax: +1 540 985 9427; E-mail: jmferrara@carilionclinic.org.
Abstract: Background:Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been hypothesized to be associated with certain personality traits, including conscientiousness and punctuality. However, research aimed at quantifying these traits is largely derived from questionnaire-based personality inventories rather than real-world observations. Objective:To explore the presence of a parkinsonian personality profile by assessing the no-show rate of patients with PD versus other neurological disorders. Methods:We extracted data from our electronic health record for all neurology appointments over a 78-month interval. Additionally, we obtained primary care appointment data for the same patients over the same timeframe. For each appointment we collected appointment date/time, check-in time, provider, age, sex, insurance type, days between appointment date and scheduling, diagnosis code, and no-show status. Results:19,433 unique patients (400 with PD) accounting for a total of 252,347 outpatient appointments were included in our analysis. The overall no-show rate for PD patients was 3% versus 7.4% for patients with other neurologic disorders (OND). No show rates for PD patients were lower than those with OND for both neurology appointments (2.7% versus 13.6%) and for primary care visits (3.1% versus 5.9%). Conclusions:Patients with PD have lower no-show rates than patients with OND. Additionally, the no-show rate for patients with PD did not differ between their neurology and primary care appointments, confirming that patient’s personality rather than provider traits account for this difference, and supporting the presence of a parkinsonian personality.
