November 29, 2012 (USA TODAY) -- Depression takes a bigger toll
on Parkinson's patients than physical problems linked to the
neurological disease, and often goes undiagnosed, according to
early findings from an international study out Wednesday.
"Nearly everyone thinks of the disease as a mobility disorder,
but the No. 1 problem turns out to be depression," says Joyce
Oberdorf, president of the National Parkinson Foundation, an
advocacy group. Its long-term study is the largest ever
undertaken on the degenerative disease, she says. Parkinson's
affects about 1 million people in the USA and 5 million
worldwide, and is characterized by tremors, stiffness, slowness
of movement and speech difficulties. Trying to pinpoint which
treatments enable some patients to thrive while others decline
led the foundation to launch the research three years ago. There
is no cure. "Some patients stay active and can live at home
rather than go to a nursing home," says physician Michael Okun,
co-director of the Center for Movement D