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Hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease: cross-sectional study

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and risk factors for the development of hallucinations in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). This cross-sectional study included 180 consecutive, non-demented patients with PD. Out of them, 24 patients (13%) experienced some kind of hallucinations. Visual hallucinations were present in 22/24 (90%) subjects. Univariate logistic regression analysis has shown relationship between presence of hallucinations and the following variables: age of patients (p = 0.025), PD duration (p = 0.001), duration of levodopa treatment (p = 0.001), total daily dose of levodopa (p = 0.033), presence of levodopa-induced dyskinesia (p = 0.002) and their duration (p = 0.021), and experience of nightmares (p = 0.042). Hallucinations were also associated with higher scores of the UPDRS (p = 0.001), HDRS (p = 0.001) and the NPI total score (p = 0.001), and higher H-Y stages of the disease (p = 0.001). Multivariate regression analysis has demonstrated that the duration of PD (p = 0.024) as well as NPI total score (p = 0.002) was significant independent risk factors for hallucinations in PD.

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Acknowledgments

This investigation was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Serbia (Grants no. 185090).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Dr Subotica 6, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Marina Svetel & Vladimir Kostić

  2. Department of Neurology, Clinical Hospital Centre “Zvezdara”, Belgrade, Serbia

    Tatjana Smiljković

  3. Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Tatjana Pekmezović

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  1. Marina Svetel
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  2. Tatjana Smiljković
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  3. Tatjana Pekmezović
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  4. Vladimir Kostić
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Correspondence to Marina Svetel.

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Svetel, M., Smiljković, T., Pekmezović, T. et al. Hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease: cross-sectional study. Acta Neurol Belg 112, 33–37 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-012-0027-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-012-0027-z

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