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I read all of the messages from this wonderful group of fellow Parkinson's patients, but rarely post anything. However, I thought that the following information should be available to all: Noma "Bunny" DePew E-MOVE reports from the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Philadelphia May 5-11, 2001. Poster and Platform session numbers refer to abstracts published in Neurology 2001;56 (Supplement 3). 1. P02.033 Analysis of United States Social Security Disability Insurance in Parkinson's disease patients, 1999 T Zesiewicz, A Patella, C Cumin, P Beaverton, JEF Stuffit, RA Hauser PD patients who apply for Social Security disability payments are very likely to receive them with adequate documentation, according to this study. From all PD patients at a movement disorders center with onset before age 60 who met the SSDI employment criteria, 68 patients were randomly selected for a telephone interview. Mean age was 58 years, and disease duration was 9.5 years. Of 52 patients who felt they were disabled, 37 applied for SSDI and 32 received it. All patients who received SSDI either kept extensive documentation of medical history or obtained legal help with filing, while none of the unsuccessful patients did. 2. P02.078 Economic burden and quality of life impairment increase with severity of Parkinson's disease (PD): A naturalistic study among 260 PD patients in Finland T Keranen, S Kaakkolo, K Sotaniemi, The EcoPD Study Group Motor fluctuations dramatically increase costs and decrease quality of life, according to this study. Two-hundred-sixty consecutive PD patients at six centers were assessed for PD severity, quality of life, health and social care resource use, and associated direct and indirect costs. Mean direct cost per patient was $5500 (median $2700). Total cost, including estimated value of home care and early retirement, was $13200 (median $3700). Patients with motor fluctuations had a median direct cost twice that of nonfluctuators, and a total cost approximately seven times as much. Forty-one percent of direct costs for all patients was for hospitalization, and 20% was for medications. Quality of life was inversely correlated with PD severity, and was significantly worse in fluctuating patients. 3. S28.001 The impact of comorbid disease patterns of resource use and expenditures in an elderly population with Parkinson's JC Pressley, ED Lewis, M Tang, LJ Cote, PD Cohen, R Mayeux Broken bones, dementia, and diabetes are common comorbid conditions in PD, whose presence significantly increases costs and resource use, according to this report. Using national survey data and Medicare claims, records of 791 PD patients were identified and reviewed for comorbid conditions and claims. Compared to controls without PD, patients were 3.4 times more likely to suffer broken bones, 4 times more likely to have dementia, and 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes. Hospitalization accounted for 54% of all medical charges. In patients with PD plus diabetes, hospitalization accounted for 70% of all charges. Only half of patients saw a neurologist during the five -year study period. Copyright 2000 WE MOVE Editor: Richard Robinson ([log in to unmask]) This service is provided free of charge to the Internet community, courtesy of WEMOVE.org. This document may be freely redistributed by email only in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with your colleagues. E-MOVE archives, plus information on subscribing, are available at http://www.wemove.org/emove. To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to [log in to unmask], with "unsubscribe e-move" in the message body. E-MOVE is a service of WE MOVE (Worldwide Education and Awareness for Movement Disorders) 204 West 84th Street New York, NY 10024 TEL 800-437-MOV2 TEL 212-875-8312 FAX 212-875-8389 http://www.wemove.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn