Abstract
Objectives: Update data for diagnostic accuracy of a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) using neuropathological diagnosis as the gold standard.
Methods: Data from the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders (AZSAND) was used to determine the predictive value of a clinical PD diagnosis. Two clinical diagnostic confidence levels were used, Possible PD (PossPD, never treated or not responsive) and Probable PD (ProbPD, 2/3 cardinal clinical signs + responsive to dopaminergic medications). Neuropathological diagnosis was the gold standard.
Results: Based on first visit to AZSAND, 15/54 (27.8%) PossPD cases and 138/163 (84.7%) ProbPD had confirmed PD. PD was confirmed in 24/34 (70.6%) ProbPD with <5 yrs and 114/128 (89.1%) with >5 yrs disease duration. Using the consensus final clinical diagnosis following death, 161/187 (86.1%) ProbPD had neuropathologically confirmed PD. Diagnostic accuracy for ProbPD improved if included motor fluctuations, dyskinesias, and hyposmia, and hyposmia for PossPD.
Conclusions: This updated study confirmed lower clinical diagnostic accuracy for elderly, untreated or poorly responsive PossPD participants and for ProbPD with <5 yr disease duration, even when medication responsive. Caution continues to be needed when interpreting clinical studies of PD, especially studies of early disease, that do not have autopsy confirmation.
Classification of Evidence: This study provides Class II evidence that a clinical diagnosis of probable PD at first visit identifies patients who will have pathologically confirmed PD with a sensitivity of 82.6% and specificity of 86.0%.
- Received July 22, 2020.
- Accepted October 1, 2020.
- © 2020 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
The Nerve!: Rapid online correspondence
NOTE: All contributors' disclosures must be entered and current in our database before comments can be posted. Enter and update disclosures at http://submit.cp.neurology.org. Exception: replies to comments concerning an article you originally authored do not require updated disclosures.
- Stay timely. Submit only on articles published within the last 8 weeks.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- 200 words maximum.
- 5 references maximum. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- 5 authors maximum. Exception: replies can include all original authors of the article.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.