Parkinson's disease: Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care
This is an extract from the guidance. The complete guidance is available at guidance.nice.org.uk/cg35
2 Notes on the scope of the guidance
All NICE guidelines are developed in accordance with a scope document that defines what the guideline will and will not cover. The scope of this guideline was established, after a period of consultation, at the start of the guideline development process.
This guideline sets out best practice guidance for the diagnosis and management of PD in the NHS in England and Wales. Guidance covers primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare settings. It applies to men and women older than 20 years of age, with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or parkinsonism. The guidance on treatment and management is aimed at people with idiopathic Parkinson's disease only. The following areas are covered in this guideline:
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diagnosis and monitoring
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communication and education
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pharmacotherapy (prevention of progression)
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pharmacotherapy (functional disability in early disease)
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adjuvant pharmacotherapy (functional disability in late disease)
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non-pharmacological management
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neuropsychiatric conditions
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palliative care.
This guideline does not cover other therapies that do not form common clinical management (such as fetal cell transplantation; stem cells; genes that code proteins responsible for producing dopamine; drugs that block the action of glutamate; glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor [GDNF]; and viral transfection). In addition, comorbidities in Parkinson's disease are not addressed (except where treatment differs from treatment of these comorbidities in patients without Parkinson's disease). Finally, generic health problems where the care for people with Parkinson's disease does not differ to that of the general population (such as constipation) are not addressed.