Prevalence of hallucinations in Parkinson’s patients: meta-analysis of International studies

• Published in: Neurological sciences 2023-10, Vol.44 (10), p.3389-3394
• Main Authors: Ravandi, Somayye Nadi, Kouchaki, Ebrahim, Asgarian, Fatemeh Sadat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Binomial distribution; Developing countries; Hallucinations; LDCs; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meta-analysis; Movement disorders; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosciences; Neurosurgery; Parkinson's disease; Psychiatry; Review Article; Statistical analysis
• ISSN: 1590-1874; 1590-3478
• DOI: 10.1007/s10072-023-06831-8

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the common causes of disability in the elderly. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of hallucinations in Parkinson’s patients in the world. Methods A systematic review of PubMed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar was conducted from 2017 to 2022. This study investigated the prevalence of hallucinations in Parkinson’s patients. Point prevalence was analyzed with a 95% confidence interval. The variances of each study were calculated using the binomial distribution formula The researcher used Cochrane Q -test with a significance level of less than 0.1 to check the heterogeneity between studies and the change index assigned to heterogeneity I 2 . Due to the heterogeneity between the studies, the random effects model was used to combine the results of the studies. All statistical analyses were performed by STATA version 14 software using meta-analysis commands. Results Reports indicated that the prevalence of hallucinations in Parkinson’s patients in 32 studies was 28% (0.22–0.34 = 95%CI). The highest prevalence was 34% and 95% CI = 0.07– 0.61 in developing countries and 27% with CI = 0.33–0.21 in developed countries. Reports showed the prevalence in men was 30% (CI = 0.22–0.38) and in women 23% (95% CI = 0.14–0.31). Conclusions Considering the relatively high prevalence of hallucinations in these patients, checking up for the presence of hallucinations on every visit of Parkinson’s patients is recommended, and providing appropriate treatment for that is necessary.