Abstract
Background:: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative pathology with unknown etiology. It is characterized clinically by the classic triad that associated tremors, bradykinesia, and rigidity. In Niger, there are no data on PD. Aims:: We aimed to provide the demographic and clinical profile of PD in patients from Niger to create a database on PD in Niger. Patients and Methods:: We conducted a retrospective study at the Neurology Outpatient Clinic of the Hpital National de Niamey (HNN, Niger) over a period of 4.42 years from February 2009 to July 2013 collecting all cases of PD. The demographic and clinical features of all patients were collected and analyzed. Results:: During the period of the study, 1695 patients consulted at the Neurology Outpatient Clinic of the HNN, among which 76 patients (4.48%) had secondary parkinsonism and 25 patients (1.47%) had features compatible with PD. Only patients with PD were included in this study. The mean age at onset of symptoms was 58 years (range: 4274 years). The male sex was predominant (60%) with a sex ratio of 1.5. The mean time interval from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis of PD was 1.8 years (range: 15 years). The tremor was the most common symptom (84%). Bradykinesia represented 64% of the symptoms and rigidity 20%. At the time of the diagnosis of PD, 8 patients (32%) were in Stage I of the classification of Hoehn and Yahr, 16 patients (64%) in Stage II, and 1 patient (4%) in Stage III. The levodopa/carbidopa combination was the most used antiparkinsonian drug in our patients (88%). The mean time of follow-up of the patients was 2.5 years (range: 14.42 years). During the course of the disease, 9 patients (36%) were in Stage II of the classification of Hoehn and Yahr, 13 patients (52%) in Stage III, and 3 patients (12%) in Stage IV. Conclusion:: Our study provides demographic and clinical data of PD in patients from Niger and shows that the hospital frequency of this disease is low (1.47%). The demographic and clinical features of our patients are similar to those of the patients of the prior studies reported in sub-Saharan Africa.
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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License, which permits unrestricted reproduction and distribution, for non-commercial purposes only; and use and reproduction, but not distribution, of adapted material for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original work is properly cited.
