Exploring pain phenomena and associations in Parkinson’s disease: A Turkish perspective

Abstract

Background and purpose – Despite being recognised for a long time as a non-motor characteristic of Parkinson’s disease (PD), pain is still a symptom that is underdiagnosed and undertreated. This study aimed to assess the relationship between PD patients’ pain and sleep disturbances, depression, cognitive functions, fatigue and quality of life. Methods – A total of 100 patients with primary PD were recruited for this study. Their demographic and clinical features, including age, gender distribution, educational level, smoking, lateralization and duration of PD, and comorbid diseases were recorded. The patients were divided into two groups: patients with and without pain. The scores on the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Hoehn and Yahr Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39), Fatigue Severity Scale, Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale were compared between the two groups. Results – Statistical analyses regarding questionnaires revealed higher scores in various domains for PD patients with pain, although significance was not found in all measures (p > 0.05). However, PDQ-39 test scores were significantly higher in PD patients with pain compared to those without pain (p = 0.036). Patients with pain presented significantly higher scores than those without pain for all domains of the UPDRS and Hoehn-Yahr Scale (p < 0.05). In order of frequency, musculoskeletal pain, radicular pain, parkinsonian pain, headache, neuropathic pain, and inflammatory pain were detected. Conclusion – Our findings show that pain was prevalent in more than half of the participants, with musculoskeletal pain being the most common type. Additionally, experiencing multiple types of pain concurrently may highlight the complexity of pain presentation in this population, suggesting that pain in PD is frequent, complex, and related to impairment of quality of life of the patients. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.