ABSTRACT
Objective: to assess the awareness of Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis and treatment among medical professionals in Kazakhstan. Background(s): PD is one of the most common neurodegenerative disease (1). Data on PD prevalence and incidence is lacking in Kazakhstan (2,3). Method(s): The original Thai questionnaire (4,5) was adapted, translated into the Russian language and validated. Questionnaire includes 20 questions divided into 3 groups: diagnosis of PD, treatment of PD and progression. The survey questionnaire was uploaded and shared online;printed forms were distributed to the medical staff in Almaty city. Result(s): 187 forms were collected, 20 printed forms were excluded after revising because of incorrect and incomplete filling (Fig.1): 48 male and 119 female responders. Mean age of responders was 36.34+/-10.933 years. 47.3% (79) of them work in the government hospitals, 50 (29.9%) are in the outpatient clinics, 33 (19.8%) are in the private clinics. The average experienced years after graduation are 12.16+/-11.696. Some of the responders has no practice with PD patients, but some of them accept 70 PD patients per month, average meaning is 5.23+/-9.562 patients per month. Average duration of residency of neurologists is 18.52+/-9.135 months. Only 14.4% of responders refer patients with PD to movement disorders specialist. Most popular medicines for PD treatment are Levodopa (70.06%), Pramipexol (25.75%), Amantadine (22.16%), only 9.58% of responders use DBS and less than 3% use pallidotomy and thalamotomy. 17.37% of responders has patients with foreign country treatment (43.8% other form of levodopa, 25% of levodopa +entocapone). 30.5% responders answered without mistakes, and only 9.6% mentioned all correct symptoms (Fig.2). 4.79% of responders mentioned all correct non-motor symptoms of PD (Fig.3). 74.3% of responders has supposed that neuroimaging is mandatory for diagnosing PD, 79.1% mentioned the rest tremor as obligatory symptom of PD (Fig.4). 81.4% of medical staff know that levodopa is the most effective medicine for PD patients. 50.9% of responders considered that SARSCov- 2 vaccine is contraindicated for PD patients (Fig.5). 83.8% of medical staff mentioned that PD medicines could slow down the progression of PD (Fig.6). Conclusion(s): Awareness of medical professionals in Kazakhstan about PD are poor. Educational programs are needed to improve quality and awareness of medical staff about PD.