Frailty and Parkinson’s disease share overlapping clinical features, making it challenging to distinguish between the two. Therefore, it is important to understand the characteristics of frailty in people with Parkinson’s disease (PwP) to prevent the progression of frailty.
Aims:
We sought to understand existing evidence on frailty in PwP.
Design:
This study was a scoping review. A literature search was conducted using 7 databases and hand-searching in September 2023.
Results:
A total of 14 studies met the inclusion criteria. In both clinical and community settings, the frailty phenotype was most commonly used to assess frailty. The prevalence of frailty was inconsistent according to the measures used, and frailty measures assessing cumulative deficits tended to result in higher frailty rates. Compared with PwP who exhibited robustness, PwP with frailty were older, had more severe Parkinson symptoms, and took higher doses of levodopa. Frailty worsened as Parkinson symptoms became more severe, and doses of levodopa increased.
Conclusion:
Recognizing the specific characteristics of PwP with frailty is important to identify at-risk individuals and initiate timely interventions. Considering that PwP requires regular monitoring, it is recommended to use frailty measures that can capture multidimensional and cumulative aspects of frailty.
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