SIGN guidelines on Parkinson’s disease

16 February 2010

A new guideline on the diagnosis and management of Parkinson’s disease has been published by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN).

The guideline provides recommendations based on current evidence for best practice in the diagnosis and pharmacological management of PD. It offers recommendations on:

• the accuracy of diagnoses carried out by different healthcare professionals
• the value of different diagnostic tests for differentiating PD from other associated conditions
• pharmacological management of motor and non-motor symptoms associated with PD.

Diagnosis and pharmacological management of Parkinson’s disease is aimed at a wide range of medical professionals reflecting the fact that neurological involvement in PD frequently causes symptoms across many different body systems, such as mental health, bowel, bladder and blood pressure. It will be of interest to general practitioners, neurologists, physicians, geriatricians, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, psychiatrists, patients, their carers and members of the voluntary sector.

SIGN has also recently released a new guideline on the Non-pharmaceutical management of depression, which provides an assessment of a range of therapies, including psychological therapies, structured exercise and lifestyle interventions, as well as alternative and complementary treatments, many of which are not routinely available within the NHS.