FROM: Women's Health Weekly via NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net
 January 20, 2005

SECTION: EXPANDED REPORTING; Pg. 120

HEADLINE: PARKINSON DISEASE;
Questionnaire is reliable and valid for evaluating autonomic dysfunction

    The SCOPA-AUT questionnaire provides an assessment of autonomic
dysfunction
in Parkinson disease.

    According to published research from the Netherlands, "We developed a
questionnaire to assess autonomic symptoms in patients with Parkinson
disease
(PD) and evaluated its reliability and validity."

    M. Visser and colleagues of Leiden University explained, "Based on
the
results of a postal survey in 46 PD patients, 21 multiple system atrophy
patients, and 8 movement disorders specialists, items were included
according to
their frequency, burden, and clinical relevance. The questionnaire was
evaluated
in 140 PD patients and 100 controls, and test-retest reliability was
established
in a sample of 55 PD patients."

    "The SCOPA-AUT consists of 25 items assessing the following regions:
gastrointestinal (7), urinary (6), cardiovascular (3), thermoregulatory
(4),
pupillomotor (1), and sexual (2 items for men and 2 items for women)
dysfunction. Test-retest reliability was good. Autonomic problems
increased
significantly with increasing disease severity for all autonomic regions,
except
sexual dysfunction," the researchers reported.

    They concluded, "...SCOPA-AUT is a reliable and valid questionnaire
that
evaluates autonomic dysfunction in PD."

    Visser and colleagues published their findings in Movement Disorders
(Assessment of autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease: The
SCOPA-AUT. Mov
Disord, 2004;19(11):1306-1312).

    Additional information can be obtained by contacting M. Visser,
Leiden
University, Medical Center, Department of Neurology, K5 Q92, POB 9600,
NL-2300
RC Leiden, the Netherlands. [log in to unmask]

    The publisher of the journal Movement Disorders can be contacted at:
Wiley-Liss Division of John Wiley  &  Sons Inc., 111 River Street,
Hoboken, NJ
07030, USA.

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