Objective: To describe the number and reasons of the visits to the emergency room (ER) and the hospitalizations of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients for a period of at least ten years of follow-up.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic disease which implies in its evolution a progressive disability and an increasing demand of medical care and visits to the emergency room (ER) or hospitalizations. We have not found any study of such a long follow-up period.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive and retrospective study of PD’s patients followed uninterrupted in our hospital for at least 10 years. Data were obtained from the electronic medical history and were completed by clinical interview. The objective is to describe the number and reasons of the visits to the emergency room (ER) and the admissions to the hospital (AH) during at least 10 years of follow-up. We classified the reasons that made patients to go to the hospital as medical or surgical.

Results: 78 patients (44 women) were analyzed since April 1999 to December 2015. Age at the diagnosis was 63.74 (8.9) years, the mean time of evolution of the disease was 13.65 (3.2) years, the mean time of follow up in our hospital was 12.1 (1.9) years. Only 3 patients never went to the ER and 10 patients never were admitted to the hospital. In all the years of follow-up patients who attended the ER for medical reasons did 5 times (3-9) and for surgical reasons did 3 times (1-4). Infections and pain were the medical reasons most patients had to go to the ER and trauma was the most common surgical reason. Patients admitted to the hospital for medical reasons did 2 times (1-3) and for surgical reasons did also 2 times (1-2.75). Infectious diseases were the most common medical cause of admission to the hospital while trauma was the most common surgical reason. Eighteen patients (23%) died during the follow-up.

Conclusions: PD implies an important number of hospitalizations and visits to the ER. In our environment, osteomuscular pathology in terms of articular pain and trauma was the most prevalent cause of hospitalization and visit to the ER. It may be related to the frequently falls and probably to pain as a non-motor symptom.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/exploring-hospitalizations-and-visits-to-the-emergency-room-of-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-a-ten-years-follow-up/