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The following is a summary of “Pain in Parkinson’s disease is impacted by motor complications, anxiety and sleep disturbances,” published in the December 2024 issue of Pain by Rukavina et al. 

Parkinson’s disease (PD), the prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, significantly impacts a large proportion of individuals, with over two-thirds experiencing chronic pain, a challenge that remains inadequately addressed.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate the links between pain and other motor and non-motor symptoms (NMS) in PD to advance precision pain management for people with Parkinson’s (PwP).  

They performed an analysis on participants from the ‘The Non-motor International Longitudinal, Real-Life Study in PD (NILS) study (authorized by the South-East London Research Ethics Service, reference number: 10/H0808/141 and adopted by the National Institute of Health Research in the United Kingdom [UK National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network, UKCRN, No.: 10084]), conducted between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2022. The NILS study, launched in 2011, includes 34 centers worldwide (across Europe, Asia, the United States, Latin America, and Australia). Clinical assessments using validated tools were performed during routine follow-up visits to evaluate the burden and progression of NMS in a diverse population of individuals with PD in real-life clinical settings.  

The results showed 109 PwP (41.3% women, age 64.29 ± 9.80 years, disease duration 5.50 [2.44–10.89] years, Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage 2 [1–4], levodopa equivalent daily dose 575.00 [315.00–1004.00] mg), a strong correlation was found between total PD-related pain burden and total NMS burden (r_s = 0.641). Moderate correlations were noted with sleep/fatigue (r_s = 0.641 = 0.483), cognitive issues (r_s = 0.641 = 0.445), motor complications (r_s= 0.641 = 0.421), anxiety (r_s = 0.641 = 0.441), and depression (r _s = 0.641 = 0.451). Multivariate linear regression showed that motor complications (B = 2.063, 95% CI 1.152–2.974, P < 0.001), sleep disturbances/fatigue (B = 0.392, 95% CI 0.064–0.720, P = 0.020), and anxiety (B = 0.912, 95% CI 0.165–1.659, P = 0.017) significantly contributed to the overall pain burden.  

Investigators concluded that motor complications, anxiety, and sleep disturbances significantly impacted PD-related pain in PwP, highlighting the need for a personalized approach to pain management targeting these interrelated symptoms, with future trials focusing on managing these factors that could alleviate pain. 

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejp.4765