Abbreviated rating score for Parkinson's disease.

A total of 240 patients of Parkinson's disease (PD) were studied (125 male, 115 female). The age of onset was 60.0 +/- 9.9 years(Y) (mean +/- S.D.) (range 30-87). A 0-4 rating score was applied on each of 6 major symptoms: i.e. tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, gait, activities of daily living and fluctuation with maximum score of 24. According to the Hoehn and Yahr's stages, there were 44 cases in stage I, 141 in stage II, 31 in stage III, 19 in stage IV and 5 in stage V. Fluctuation in symptoms occurred in 42.9%, dyskinesia in 7.1%, psychosis in 9.6%, depression in 4.6%, and dementia in 2.9%. The mean duration of PD was 4.9 +/- 4.5 Y with 40% 5 years or longer. Significantly longer duration of PD was seen in the patients suffering from fluctuation (6.7 +/- 4.7 Y), dyskinesia (10.7 +/- 6.7 Y) and psychosis (9.4 +/- 6.5 Y). The mean duration of L-dopa treatment was 4.1 +/- 3.4 Y. The patients showing fluctuation (6.2 +/- 4.0 Y) or dyskinesia (7.6 +/- 4.7 Y) had significantly longer duration of L-dopa treatment. The mean daily dose of L-dopa was 370 +/- 203 mg. The patients with fluctuation (430 +/- 187 mg) or dyskinesia (545 +/- 265 mg) received significantly higher dose of L-dopa. Dementia tended to occur in the patients having later age of onset of PD (71.2 +/- 11.2 Y). The symptom score was significantly worse in those with fluctuation, dyskinesia, psychosis and dementia. It was well correlated with the Hoehn and Yahr's staging system.