Background/Aims: Pain is a non-motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Few systematic studies have been carried out and there are still no guidelines on pain therapy in PD. Additionally, within the studies that do exist, gender-specific differences in pain perception are often the focus, though no consistent results have to date been obtained. The first main aim of our study was therefore to map pain in the largest PD study group to date, with the second being the analysis of the impact of different pain therapies in PD. The third and main aim was to correlate the obtained results with gender. Methods: A structured questionnaire with questions focusing on pain was sent to PD patients, with a subsequent statistical analysis correlating the data on pain features and pain therapy with gender. Results: The study included 1204 female and 1610 male PD patients. Spinal–paravertebral pain emerged as the dominant form of pain. A significant correlation was further demonstrated between gender and pain localization, pain intensity (p-value < 0.05), and pain as impairment to quality of life (p-value < 0.05). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the painkillers most frequently used by the patients. Aside from non-opioid analgesics (p-value < 0.05), there was no demonstrated significant correlation between pain treatments and gender. Conclusion: This study found that gender influenced pain perception in the PD patients tested but did not impact the approach to pain therapy.

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) belongs to the disease spectrum of Parkinsonian syndromes. Due to the chronic and progressive neurodegenerative course of the disease, PSP patients often have to be hospitalized to undergo diagnostic and therapeutic measures. The dynamics and characteristics of PSP inpatient treatment in Germany have not been investigated thus far. The current study analyzed trends of inpatient treatment in Germany for the years 2010–2017 based on the German DRG statistics (“diagnostic-related groups”) in the category G23.- (other degenerative diseases of the basal ganglia) and with special focus on PSP (G23.1). Inpatient case numbers of the G23.- category comprised a total of 21,196 patients from 2010–2017, whereas the PSP subcategory (G23.1) amounted to 10,663 cases. In the analyzed time period, PSP patient numbers constantly increased from 963 in 2010 to 1780 in 2017 with yearly growth rates of up to 20%. Similar trends were observed for other Parkinsonian syndromes such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). Differentiating PSP inpatients by gender demonstrated a higher proportion of males (55–60%) in comparison to female patients for the entire observation period. The average age of hospitalized PSP patients over these years was between 72.3 and 73.4 years without relevant differences for gender. The most common comorbidities consisted of cardiovascular, neurological, muscular and urological disorders. In summary, the analysis demonstrates that PSP patients are increasingly hospitalized in Germany and the current concepts of stationary care have to differentiate standard practices for Parkinson’s disease (PD) to also address the needs of patients with PSP and other Parkinsonian syndromes.