A review of pulmonary function in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, secondary to dopaminergic depletion, which primarily affects motor control via the basal ganglia. It is a multi-system disease affecting dopaminergic neurons throughout the body. The Parkinsonian syndromes are associated with excess morbidity and mortality from respiratory causes. Pulmonary function studies have yielded conflicting results in PD. Understanding the pattern of any respiratory dysfunction in PD, and interventions that could modify these, is of importance in dyspnea, hypoxia, hypercapnia, pneumonia, speech, swallowing, sleep disordered breathing, daytime somnolence, acute respiratory failure, extubation difficulties, increased respiratory infections and reduced exercise tolerance and functional capacity. The aims of this review are to summarize the patterns of pulmonary dysfunction described in previous research in PD, describe the possible implications of pulmonary dysfunction on symptoms in PD, highlight considerations for physicians managing patients and suggest areas for future research.