“The results showed significant improvement of movement outcomes in the bee venom acupuncture group that was superior to the results with acupuncture treatment alone,” said Louis Tan, MD, Senior Consultant Neurologist at the National Neuroscience Institute in Singapore. “These results are important, as it has been found that up to 70% of patients in some countries use complementary therapies for the management of Parkinson’s disease. In addition to traditional acupuncture, the Korean group has ventured into a new field of bee venom acupuncture treatment. Such carefully planned clinical studies are important to the Parkinson’s community, as they provide much needed evidence to guide the recommendation of such therapies to our patients with Parkinson’s disease.”
Neurologist Care Linked to Decreased Death Risk in Parkinson’s Disease
Treatment by a neurologist improves overall care for patients with Parkinson’s disease and ultimately may reduce the risk of death.
Peter Schmidt, PhD, Vice President of Research Programs at the National Parkinson Foundation in Miami, and colleagues conducted data analysis to identify the incidence of death for patients with Parkinson’s disease treated by a neurologist, in comparison with patients treated by a primary care physician. Using the empirical Bayes method, Drs. Schmidt and Willis calculated the fraction of the population treated by a neurologist, combined with the relative risk of death for individuals with Parkinson’s disease who are treated by a neurologist versus those managed in primary care. According to the model, improved survival for patients receiving neurologist care prevented 4,645 deaths in 2011, and the extension of neurologist care to patients not receiving it would have reduced overall mortality further by 6,967 patients.
“Parkinson’s disease is not a particularly common disorder that generalists will see on an everyday basis,” said Christopher G. Goetz, MD, Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder program at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “In contrast, in a neurologic practice, community or academic, Parkinson’s disease is a common disorder, so that neurologists have much more exposure to patients in all stages of the disease. Further, educational efforts related to Parkinson’s disease are part of almost all general neurology meetings, local, regional, and national. The data from this current study may be debated in terms of the details of the analysis, but they strongly show that neurologic care and expertise favors a positive outcome for patients affected by Parkinson’s disease.”