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

BackgroundParkinson'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.MethodsA 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.ResultsReports 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).ConclusionsConsidering 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.

Automated summary

This study conducted a systematic review of 32 studies and found that the prevalence of hallucinations in Parkinson's patients is 28%. The highest prevalence was in developing countries at 34%, and in developed countries it was 27%. The prevalence in men was 30% and in women it was 23%. It is recommended to check for hallucinations in Parkinson's patients during every visit and provide appropriate treatment.