Background There are limited data in terms of the clinical profile of Parkinson's disease in sub-Saharan African patients. Objective To compare the clinical profile and access to standard antiparkinsonian therapies of a Cameroonian cohort of patients with an age, sex, and disease duration-matched Spanish cohort (Longitudinal Study of Parkinson's disease, ELEP). Methods Observational, cross-sectional design. Demographic data were collected and the following ELEP assessments were applied: Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease (SCOPA) Motor, Autonomic, Cognition, Sleep and Psychosocial; Hoehn and Yahr staging; modified Parkinson Psychosis Rating Scale; Cumulative Illness Rating Scale-Geriatrics; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; pain and fatigue visual analog scales; Zarit, and EuroQoL. Results 74 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease were included (37 from each country) with a mean age of 64.4 ± 10.5 years old, 70.3% males, and mean disease duration of 5.6 ± 5.9 years. Compared to the Spanish cohort, Cameroonians were intermittently treated, less frequently received dopaminergic agonists (p < 0.001), had a trend for taking lower doses of levodopa (p = 0.06), and were more frequently on anticholinergics (p < 0.0005). Cameroonians were more severely impaired in terms of motor (Hoehn Yahr stage, p = 0.03; SCOPA-Motor, p < 0.001), cognitive status (p < 0.001), anxiety and depression (p < 0.001), psychosis (p = 0.008), somnolence, fatigue and pain (p < 0.001, respectively), caregiver burden (p < 0.0001), and quality of life (p = 0.002). Instead, autonomic, comorbidity, and nocturnal sleep problems were similarly found. Conclusions Limited and intermittent access to dopaminergic drugs has a negative impact on motor symptoms, nonmotor symptoms and quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
