Ricerc@Sapienza

Previous studies investigating the risk of suicide in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) reported conflicting results. A high proportion of patients with PD suffer from depression; the presence of depression and motor disability may increase the risk of suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation is frequently associated with perceived disability, with hopelessness and with personality traits and affective temperaments. This study will evaluate suicide risk and suicidal ideation in PD patients and their relationship with motor and non motor parkinsonian symptoms as well as with a number of psychological variables, including perceived disability, hopelessness and affective temperaments in PD. One-hundred PD patients will be included in the study. The diagnosis of PD will be based on clinical criteria. Exclusion criteria will be the presence of a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score lower than 24 or a Frontal Assessment Battery score lower than 12. All patients will undergo a neurological and a psychiatric evaluation. The neurological evaluation will include the administration of standardized clinical scales to assess motor and non-motor symptoms of PD patients. The psychiatric evaluation will include the administration of the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, the Italian Perceived Disability Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Inventory and the TEMPS-A questionnaire. The results will be compared with those of a control group of 100 patients affected by another chronic disease, i.e. open angle glaucoma.
The present project will provide relevant insights in understanding whether suicide risk is increased in PD and will clarify the relationship between the suicidal ideation and motor, non motor and psychological features of PD patients.