Cluster analysis clinical heterogeneity in early Parkinson's disease / 中国实用内科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical heterogeneity of Parkinson's disease in the early stages.Methods Clinical data of demographic,motor phenotype,disease progression,cognitive,mood,autonomic and hallucination variables were collected from 143 patients with PD in the early stages.The patients' subtypes were explored with statistical cluster analysis of the clinical data.Results The analysis indicated four main subtypes1.the younger-onset subtype(n=40);2.The tremor dominant subtype(n=57);3.the non-tremor dominant subtype with fast progression(n=17);4.The non-tremor dominant subtype with mild depression(n=29).Age at onset,posture-instability scores,the ratio of tremor scores to non-tremor scores,rate of progression and apathy scores all differentiated patients of respective subgroups.Conclusion The patients with early Parkinson's disease have marked heterogeneity in the clinical phenotype.