Unpublished Chilean study that spanned two years finds effective therapy to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive and chronic disease. This disease, still without cure, characterized by a lack of a chemical in the brain called dopamine, responsible for transmitting signals between nerve cells and regulating people’s moods.

It is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. However, there is no epidemiological description in Chile and there are not many descriptions in Latin America either.

It is only estimated that approximately 40,000 people live with this pathology in the country and that at least 30% do not know.

A team of researchers from Specialized neurological center for Parkinson (Cenpar) conducted a study to find out what was the condition of his patients before and after performing a comprehensive treatment.

The analysis showed that those who complete comprehensive rehabilitation on a sustained basis, for more than 12 months, improve their quality of life in all the indicators assessed. Even In some of the variables, it is possible to stop the alteration of capacities affected by Parkinson’s disease, in 100% of cases.

During the survey, historical data of 120 people with Parkinson’s disease (PD), men and women, aged 42 to 86, who received at least 12 months of primary care, were analyzed. Integral rehabilitation -that is to say, kinesiology, occupational therapy and speech therapy -, between January 2020 and December 2022.

What interested them was that the person would have received ongoing care, either once a week every week for 12 months or a maximum of three times a week. “Yes or yes, patients had to meet the criteria for continued care during those 12 months,” he explains. Paola Riveros, director of rehabilitation cepar, and who conducted the study.

As with the integral therapy, each session lasts 1 hour. Twenty minutes of kinesiology, 20 minutes of speech therapy and 20 minutes of occupational therapy. “So because neuroscience indicates that after 20 minutes the rehabilitation factors are no longer as relevant,” adds Riveros.

What the researchers assessed were the abilities of the patient with Parkinson’s disease, such as the quality of walking, whether it was dependent or independent, whether the patient had neuromotor rigidity, which is a pathological reflex, or he has cardiovascular problems.

The main improvements were:

• While at the start of treatment, 20% of patients presented march dependent on technical assistance, after twelve months, none of them presented it. A 100% favorable evolution. It was repeated as far as other relevant alterations of Parkinson’s disease,
• The alterations that affect speech and voice, and the presence of muscle rigidity, as an element hindering the quality of life, it also presented a 100% favorable evolution.
• In the case of impaired aerobic or cardiovascular capacity during exercise, whose presence was reduced to 33% of patients.
• There disturbance of balance decreased to 40% of patients.

• The risk of falling fell from 76% to 15% of cases.
• He cognitive decline from 90% to 47% of cases.
• THE swallowing disorders reduced their presence from 80% to 43% of cases.

All patients assessed showed skill improvements compared to those with impairments, however, some due to their personal condition experienced greater and faster improvement, and the age factor, time spent doing exercise at home, degree of dependence, cognitive impairment, motivation, education and socio-economic level, could have an influence. Nevertheless, all had at least three variables with improvement.

Initially, almost all patients had between 60% and 100% damage from these abilities in test number one on the first day. “Then the percentages dropped and some were left with 0% weathering and the maximum was 40%. So there has been an improvement,” comments the head of the study.

The patients who had the greatest health benefit were those who attended continuously, were committed and they reproduced this activity and these tasks at home, they showed interest, they learned to take care of themselves, they had the support of their loved ones and they sought networks with friends or municipal authorities to promote their quality of life.

In contrast, in patients who had no real commitment, or lacked the desired support network, “there have been improvements but noticeably weaker adds the director of rehabilitation.

Likewise, the director explains that without the pandemic, greater improvements would have been seen. But what the pandemic has done is reduce the stimulus for patients and generate negative effects on their mental and physical health due to the confinement, which is why “it has clearly slowed the results”.

Through this analysis, the researchers seek the reality of our patients, since “There is a lot of ignorance and myths about Parkinson’s disease” notes Riveros.

They therefore hope that people with this disease:

• Recognize the importance of having rehab, educate yourself and know the best ways to take care of yourself and the things you should and shouldn’t do at home.
• That family members also possess this knowledge and generate support networks.
• Doctors and health professionals have a greater vision of the relevance of rehabilitation, because today “we know that Parkinson’s disease is treated with 50% medication and 50% rehabilitation and those who have not that drugs deteriorate much faster than patients who have drugs and rehabilitation” explains the author.

In the past, patients who had medication only in the fifth year had a lot of symptoms, walking disorders, falls, fractures, and today they can reach 10, 12, 17 years with alterations minimal, only hand tremors, but they manage to walk, do not fall “and it’s not that we’re magic but it’s science, we use a lot of science in there.”

“We have patients who are fired because the employer thinks they’re going crazy because they have Parkinson’s, and you assess the patient and there’s no requirement for the employer to be crazy, it’s just a prejudice. The idea is to be able to better visualize the reality of patients and the importance of rehabilitation,” concludes Riveros.