Effectiveness of Intensive Rehabilitation in Advanced Stages of Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease clinically characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms.

Dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) is the standard treatment for the motor symptom of PD, however DRT does not reduce axial PD symptoms such as freezing of gait, postural instability and balance disturbances. Further, long-term DRT could negatively impact on cognitive and motivational functions and leads to different motor and behavioural side effects. Therefore, the pharmacological approach becomes less effective in the moderate and advanced stages of disease.

The investigators testing the hypothesis that this approach is effectiveness also in moderate and advanced stages of disease In according with Hoehn and Yahr scale (H&Y) we identified 353 parkinsonian patients on stage 3, 79 subjects on stage 4 and 7 subjects on stage 5.

Clinical scores were assessed at baseline and after 4 weeks by neurologists and physiotherapists expert in movement disorders. All evaluations were performed in the morning, one hour after taking drugs. The assessment included: Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), for clinical evaluation, Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), Six Minutes Walking Test (6MWT), Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOGQ) and Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale (AIMS) for motor symptoms evaluation and, finally, Parkinson's Disease Disability Scale (PDDS), for evaluation of the functional impact of the disease. Since in the advanced stages of PD one of the most troublesome complication includes cognitive disorders, a Neuropsychologist performed a cognitive assessment at the admission. The neuropsychological profile was explored using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), a tool for screening of cognitive impairment, and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) for the evaluation of frontal lobe dysfunctions.