Objective: To explore the type and etiology of chronic pain in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and to assess the association between pain and cognitive function.
Methods: A total of 116 PD patients were enrolled in the study and assessed with the following rating scales: Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Hoehn-Yahr Scale (H-Y), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for Depression(HRSD), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
Results: Compared with PD patients without pain, PD patients with pain had higher scores of UPDRS, H-Y and HRSD rating scales. Depression (scores of HRSD) was the only factor associated with pain showed by the Logistic regression model (P = 0.007). PD patients with pain had lower scores of delayed recall (P = 0.020). PD patients with pain happened before their motor symptoms had a lower score of delayed recall (P = 0.015).
Conclusions: Musculoskeletal pain is the most common type in PD patients with pain. Depression is probably an independent risk factor for pain in PD patients. Delayed recall is the dominant impaired cognitive function.