Objective: This systematic review aims mainly to investigate pain as an independent risk factor for developing depressive symptoms among patients with PD.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a condition that worsens over time and affects the patients’ quality of life (QoL). PD also includes non-motor symptoms like pain and depression in addition to motor symptoms.

Method: We conformed to the PRISMA standard guidelines to carry out this systematic review. We implemented a systematic electronic search of literature through PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, and Scopus. Then we selected the literature that investigated the impact of pain associated with parkinson’s on the incidence of depression. A spreadsheet was used to analyze and discuss the extracted data.

Results: A total of seven studies with 1426 subjects were included in this systematic review. More than half of them (53.9%) were males. All of the included patients were older than 50 years. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI) scale was used in five studies to assess depression, and the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) was used in three studies to assess pain; however, the variability in the used scales may imply heterogeneity in the results. The majority experienced pain, and the prevalence ranged from 67% to 76%. One study reported that musculoskeletal pain (41%) and radicular back pain (27%) were the most prevalent types. All of the included studies demonstrated a significant association between pain severity and interference and the incidence of depression.

Conclusion: There is a strong association between pain and depression. Patients with PD frequently have pain, but this problem worsens over time. Those with PD who experience pain are more depressed and have a lower QoL than those who do not. Future research should focus on the nature of the association between depression and pain and how these two prevalent illnesses might be managed together to improve patients’ QoL.

References: NA

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/pain-as-a-risk-factor-for-developing-depression-among-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-a-systematic-review-of-1426-patients/