Objective: The goal of this study was to observe if additional pain associated with comorbid symptomatic OA in PD patients is correlated with greater depression rates.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients are known to suffer from pain and depression, but the exact degree of association between the two is unknown. As many PD patients also suffer from physical impairments, this cross-sectional case-study sets out to compare and determine the prevalence of pain and depression in PD patients that suffer with or without symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: This study included 3 groups of 34 patients and 78 healthy control participants. PD patients with symptomatic OA (PD⁺OA⁺), PD patients without symptomatic OA (PD⁺OA^–), patients with symptomatic OA but no PD (PD^–OA⁺), and healthy control participants (PD^–OA^–) were assessed for depression prevalence and severity using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS). The same individuals were also assessed for pain disability using the Pain Disability Index (PDI).

Results: Pain and depression was higher in PD patients than in OA subjects. In sum, the prevalence of depression and pain was higher in the PD⁺OA⁺ cohort than in the PD⁺OA^– patients, the PD^–OA⁺ patients and the PD^–OA^– controls. The prevalence of depression in the PD⁺OA⁺ cohort patients was not significantly greater than the PD⁺OA^– patients.

Conclusions: The findings support the hypotheses that, regardless of pain, other factors intrinsic to PD contribute to depression.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/association-of-pain-and-depression-with-parkinsons-disease-osteoarthritis-comorbidity/