These data support the hypotheses that PD patients exert nonmotor symptoms and morbidities in the early years after a diagnosis and in the years before a
diagnosis. The genitourinary system diseases manifested themselves as prostatic hypertrophy (OR = 1.30) and increased urinary infection (OR = 1.30), which we believe is caused by autonomic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical dysfunctions (Winge and Fowler 2006). The effects on the digestive system consisted of more frequent constipation (OR = 1.57), suggesting decreased gastrointestinal mobility probably due to dysfunctional autonomic activity (Winkler et al. 2011), associated with the accumulation of alpha-synuclein in the intestinal neurons (Lebouvier et al. 2009).The associations of PD with mental and behavioral disorders are well-known and represent other, nonmotor control areas of the brain affected Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical by neurodegeneration. We found that PD was associated with mental and behavioral disorders prior to diagnosis. Depression and cognitive complaints have been reported (Dissanayaka
et al. 2011), and are probably due to the early involvement of the raphe nuclei. No single diagnosis in the mental and behavioral disorders group had a frequency of above 1% in either group and was, therefore, excluded in the dataset. A particularly interesting finding was the significantly higher risk of falls Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical before diagnosis, even when we adjusted for age, gender, and social factors. Accidental falls are common in the elderly (Gillespie et al. 2009). Due to the type of motor, nocturnal, and autonomic involvement, we would expect truncal IOX1 mw instability for PD to result in more falls and accidents. Even before diagnosis, PD patients were more likely to experience head traumas (OR = 1.78). We have no information about the cause Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of accidents
(e.g., while supine, nocturnal, etc.), but we suggest that the high incidence of injuries (Duncan et al. 2012) may be attributed to the combined effect of autonomic dysfunction, nocturnal motor/behavioral (REM sleep behavioral disorder) (Suzuki et al. 2011), motor involvement with truncal instability, and cognitive involvement Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (Aarsland and Kurz 2010b). Another important consequence is that physicians should be aware of potential neurodegenerative disorders in patients who present with falls and injuries, especially if the injuries are serious, for example, Megestrol Acetate to the head and face. It should be noted that we cannot rule out the possibility that a head trauma in itself increases the risk of developing PD, as has been proposed elsewhere (Goldman et al. 2012). However, if we include other injuries (hip, shoulder, face, etc.), as is possible in this study, the causal route is most likely that the increase in falls is caused by early truncal instability, autonomic dysfunction, and slow reaction time that predates the development of symptoms severe enough to be categorized as PD.