Does Ability to Identify Odors Differ Among Clinical Subtypes of Parkinson's Disease?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor dysfunction, whereas it is also a non-motor disorder. Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is a non-motor symptom in PD. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether OD varies among subtypes of PD. METHODS: Patients comprised 28 patients with idiopathic PD (23 male and 5 female) with a mean age 64.96±7.49 years. The patients were divided into tremor-dominant type (TDT), akinetic-rigid type (ART) and mixed type (MT) by means of part III of Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale. Patients were asked whether they had a relative with tremor or PD. University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test-40 (UPSIT) was used for testing olfactory function. Patients with any factor may influence olfactory function were excluded. RESULTS: Fourteen patients were classified into TDT, 12 into ART, and 2 into MT. There were no significant differences in mean age, UPDRS part III, UPDRS total. The UPSIT scores were highest in MT group and lowest in ART group, but it did not show statistically difference. CONCLUSION: Our results do not prove the differencies of OD between subtypes of PD, but it makes a suspicion that ART patients might have poor ability to identify odors

Keywords

• Parkinson's disease
• clinical subtypes
• olfactory dysfunction