Psychiatric morbidity in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). METHODOLOGY: Two hundred and thirty-nine patients with IPD were evaluated on Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview PLUS (MINI-PLUS). In addition, patients found to have depression as per the MINI-PLUS were evaluated on Beck Depression Inventory. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-five (56.5%) patients had a current psychiatric diagnosis and 59.8% had a lifetime psychiatric diagnosis. As per MINI-PLUS, about two-fifth (39.7%) of patients had suicidality. In 18.8% of patients, suicidality was present in the absence of axis-I psychiatric diagnosis. Among the various psychiatric disorders, the most common disorders included depressive disorders (current: 17.5%; lifetime: 23.8%), anxiety disorders (current: 17.5%; lifetime: 17.5%), and psychotic disorders (current: 11.3%; lifetime: 11.7%). CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the patients with Parkinson's disease have psychiatric disorders. High prevalence of psychiatric morbidity calls for close liaison between the neurologist and the psychiatric disorders.