Parkinson Secrets
Expert Tips and Interviews on Living with Parkinson's Disease
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Hot Topics in Parkinson’s Disease

Michael Okun Indu Subramanian Jonny Acheson

 

Do you have the Parkinson's runny nose syndrome? Could it be a pre-motor symptom?

Image from Southern ENT Associates

Hubert Fernandez and Joe Friedman have both written about the “running nose syndrome” and Parkinson’s disease. Here is the bottomline from their research.

  • In the first study Dr. Fernandez compared the prevalence of idiopathic rhinorrhea (runny nose) in PD patients versus controls.

  • There was a cohort of 61 PD patients and 51 age-matched controls who completed a survey about rhinorrhea and who also underwent the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT).

  • 6% of controls versus 24% of PD patients had rhinorrhea.

  • 2% of controls versus 15% of PD patients had severe rhinorrhea.

  • Dr. Fernandez and colleagues concluded that rhinorrhea was more prevalent in PD patients compared to controls and it did not impact performance on the smell test.

    Sedig L, Leibner J, Ramjit AL, Wu SS, Dai Y, Okun MS, Rodriguez RL, Malaty IA, Fernandez HH. Is rhinorrhea an under-recognized intrinsic symptom of Parkinson disease? A prospective pilot study. Int J Neurosci. 2010 Apr;120(4):258-60. doi: 10.3109/00207451003615755. PMID: 20374072.

Two more studies were conducted by Joe Friedman and colleagues at Brown University.

  • They performed a cross-sectional study and a study of consecutive de novo newly diagnosed patients.

  • They found that rhinorrhea affected about half of Parkinson’s disease patients in Rhode Island.

  • It seemed to be an early feature, being present at the time of presentation.

  • It was significantly more common than in controls and was associated with self-perceived reduced olfaction.

  • The authors felt rhinorrhea could be a premotor symptom.

    Friedman JH, Amick MM. Rhinorrhea is increased in Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord. 2008 Feb 15;23(3):452-4. doi: 10.1002/mds.21869. PMID: 18074378.

  • Here is a youtube from the Parkinson’s Foundation on the topic hosted by Jim Beck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H06UPgXlkE4

The bottomline is that the “runny nose syndrome” is more common in Parkinson’s disease.

To read more books and articles by Michael S. Okun MD check on Twitter @MichaelOkun and these websites with blogs and information on his books and http://parkinsonsecrets.com/ #Livingwith Parkinson’s #EndingPD #Parkinsonsecrets #LessonsFromTheBedside

He also serves as the Medical Advisor for the Parkinson’s Foundation.

To see more on Dr. Indu Subramanian she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance.

The blog artist is Jonny Acheson.

Michael Okun