Pain sensitivity in Parkinson's disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Pain is a common and disabling non-motor symptom of Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) but its underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are not well understood. There is evidence to suggest that altered pain sensitivity may contribute to the experience of pain in PD patients, but clinical studies investigating this have yielded inconsistent results. Objectives: To examine whether pain thresholds are altered in PD patients compared to normal healthy controls (HC), via the use of systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: A systematic search of the MEDLINE and EMBASE library from 1966 to April 2015. Study selection: Studies that compared pain thresholds in PD patients ve..