The impact of and the factors associated with drooling in Parkinson's disease

We administered a 7-question survey on drooling to PD patients and age-matched controls Each subject was assigned a drooling severity score and categorized as a "drooler" or a "non-drooler". The age, disease duration, motor scores, quality of life (PDQ-39). and levodopa equivalent daily dosage (LEDD) were compared between PD droolers vs PD non-droolers. 58 PD patients and 51 age-matched controls participated In PD patients, the mean disease duration was 10 96 years (SD 8 66) and UPDRS on motor score was 30 76 (SD 1057). The drooling severity score was significantly different between patients vs controls (3 41 vs. .58, p < 01) 14% of controls vs 59% of patients were droolers (p < 01) PD droolers scored worse on the ADL subscale of the PDQ-39 (p = 031) Furthermore, PD droolers had significant difficulty speaking (727% vs 0%; p < 01). eating (3 64% vs 0%, p = .01), and socially interacting (12 73% vs 0%, p < 01) compared to PD non-droolers Interestingly, the hallucination component of the UPDRS Part I was significantly correlated with being a drooler (p = 016) None of the other variables have significant effect on drooling severity scores There is a high prevalence of drooling among PD patients compared to controls PD droolers had worse quality of life and had more difficulty speaking, eating and socially interacting compared to PD non-droolers Experiencing hallucinations was the only factor that correlated with being a drooler and it may be confounded by medications. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved