Objective: The aim of our study was to determine the hospital prevalence and describe the epidemiological and clinical profile of Parkinson’s disease in Douala

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second neurodegenerative disease worldwide. It primarily affects the elderly population and is characterized clinically by motor and non-motor manifestations.

Methods: A transversal study concerning patients followed up for PD from January 2011 to December 2016 at the Neurology units of Douala General and Laquintinie Hospitals was conducted .Were included all patient files with PD in which the diagnosis was made by a neurologist and all incomplete files were excluded. The diagnosis of PD was made based on Parkinson’s syndrome without any secondary identifiable cause, asymmetry at the beginning of symptoms, absence of atypical characteristics and a good response to Levodopa retrospectively. Socio-demographic data, age at the beginning of disease, duration of disease prior to initial consultation, initial symptoms, type of clinical presentation and treatment were collected. Khi-2 test was used to compare qualitative variables while Student’s test was used to compare means within subgroups. Statistical significance was set at p value˂0.05.

Results: We recruited a total of 170 files out of the 27 926 files available in the units, 4 files were excluded and our analysis was done on 166 files of which 105 (63.25%) were males and the mean age was 63.89 ± 10.76 years. The hospital- based frequency of PD was 0.59%. The mean duration of disease prior to consultation was 3 years, the most common presenting complaints were tremor (60.09%).,difficult movements(9.86%) and rigidity(7.90%). The mean time interval between occurrence of first motor symptoms and diagnosis was 27.73±18.54 months. The side of body initially affected by the disease was the right side with the upper limb at 92.55%. The most frequent motor sign was resting tremor(35.70%). The most common type of clinical presentation was the trembling type(65.66%). The most frequent comorbidities found were respectively hypertension(28.92%) and diabetes(6.02%). The most frequently used therapy in Parkinson’s disease was Levodopa/Carbidopa 52.99%).

Conclusions: Parkinson’s disease mostly affected aged patients and the frequency is very low. Motor symptoms are the predominant clinical manifestations. The study done in general population may give more elements to describe the pathology.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/epidemiological-and-clinical-profile-of-parkinsons-disease-in-douala/