Characteristics of the patients with MSA
| Patient numbers | MSA type | Age (year) | Sex | Duration (year) | L-Dopa response | LED (mg) | UPDRS maximum=108 | Cerebellar maximum=4 | Autonomic maximum=5(f), 6(m) | Pyramidal maximum=2 | Hamilton maximum=69 | MMS maximum=30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 66 | F | 9 | Poor | 0+ | 50 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 27 |
| 2 | P | 69 | M | 4.5 | Poor | 125 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 30 |
| 3 | P | 73 | M | 8 | Absent | 255 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 28 |
| 4 | P | 59 | F | 1.5 | Poor | 125# | 30 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 26 |
| 5 | P | 71 | M | 4 | Absent | 150 | 35 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 29 |
| 6 | P | 75 | M | 5 | Modest | 524 | 38 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 29 |
| 7 | P | 75 | F | 3 | Poor | 375 | 40 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 28 |
| 8 | P | 58 | M | 3 | Poor | 105# | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 30 |
| 9 | C | 64 | M | 2 | Poor | 900 | 69 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 27 |
| 10 | C | 56 | M | 2.5 | * | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 28 |
| 11 | C | 60 | F | 8 | * | 0 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 26 |
| Mean | 66.0 | 4.6 | 31.9 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 12.5 | 28.0 | ||||
| S.D. | 7.1 | 2.6 | 17.7 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 6.2 | 1.4 |
Type: parkinsonian (MSA-P) or cerebellar (MSA-C) predominance; LED, L-Dopa equivalent dose, + indicates additional budipine medication, # additional anticholinergic medication; UPDRS, Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale, motor examination only (high number of points indicates high disability); MMS, Mini-Mental State (30 points are normal, ≤26 is usually considered as cognitive impairment). Cerebellar impairment was evaluated for ataxia (arm, leg), saccades and intention tremor (finger–nose test), autonomic impairment for postural faintness, syncopes, urinary incontinence, urinary retention, faecal incontinence and impotence (males only). Pyramidal tract impairment was scored for hyper-reflexia and Babinski sign. Each item was scored if present with 1, otherwise 0. In the Hamilton scale a low score indicates few depressive symptoms. *Not investigated.
MSA, multiple system atrophy.