Phenomenology and gender characteristics of hobbyism and punding in Parkinson’s disease: A self-report study

Abstract

Objectives: Dopamine replacement therapy administered to alleviate motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been linked to a range of impulsive and compulsive behaviors (ICBs). The objective of the current study is to describe the phenomenology and delineate gender characteristics of hobbyism and punding in PD based on self-report. Materials and methods: We applied two self-report questionnaires. A clinical and demographic questionnaire assessing motor symptomatology and the short-version of the Questionnaire for impulsive-compulsive behaviors in PD assessing symptoms of current and past ICBs in PD. Results: Results suggest that hobbyism and punding are very common among Danish patients with PD with 27.5% of patients reporting symptoms hereof in the current sample. Furthermore, findings indicate that male and female patients engage differently in hobbyism and punding showing different preferences for specific compulsive activities. In addition, hobbyism and punding appear to be very time consuming with up to 10.6% of patients spending more than five hours each day on these behaviors. We found no significant gender differences in time consumption nor in the subjective experience of being pre-occupied with and feeling loss of control over the behavior. However, unlike men only very few female patients (12.1%) addressed a healthcare professional about ICB symptoms overall, and none when considering hobbyism and punding alone. Finally, findings suggest that age at PD onset and advanced motor symptomatology are significantly associated with hobbyism and punding, respectively, in both male and female patients with PD, whereas non-cardinal motor symptoms, only predict ICBs in male patients. Conclusions: Findings may have important clinical implications in early identification of ICBs in male and female patients with PD by emphasizing the need for healthcare professionals to explicitly ask patients about behavioral alterations and taking motor symptomatology into account when screening for ICBs in PD.

Impulse control disorders in Parkinson's disease versus in healthy controls: A different predictive model

“…For instance, prevalence for pathological gambling in PD patients was reported to range between 2.2% and 7% (Santangelo et al ., ). In addition to ICDs, other impulsive/compulsive behaviours have been reported to occur in PD patients, including punding (Spencer, Rickards, Fasano, & Cavanna, ), hobbyism (Callesen & Damholdt, ), walkabouts (Giovannoni, O'Sullivan, Turner, Manson, & Lees, ) and dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS), which is a compulsive use of dopamine medications despite adequate motor benefits and the annoying consequences (O'Sullivan, Evans, & Lees, ). These ICD‐related behaviours (e.g., punding and DDS) are considered to have a different pathophysiology than the classical ICDs of gambling, hypersexuality, compulsive eating and compulsive shopping.…”

Punding in Parkinson's Disease: An Update

“…In a case–control study, a higher frequency and increased severity of punding/hobbyism was found in the parkin‐PD group compared to non‐mutated PD group 19 . Male and female patients engaged differently in hobbyism and punding showing different preferences for specific compulsive activities 15 . Males were more likely to be involved in activities such as repairing, dismantling, putting together, and work on projects, whereas females were involved in cleaning, tidying, and sorting objects.…”

“…Compared to males, only a few female patients disclosed any ICBs to a clinician, and they only addressed certain symptoms such as compulsive gambling, buying, and eating, but not hobbyism and punding. 15 Psychiatric comorbidities and cognitive impairments were common clinical features in PD patients with punding. One study found that punding was associated with psychiatric comorbidity (ie, psychosis, bipolar disorder) and with addictive behaviors (pathological gambling, DDS).…”

Neuropsychiatric Features of Punding and Hobbyism in Parkinson's Disease

“…The appearance of punding behavior in animals with preserved nigrostriatal systems and in humans without PD following exposure to drugs of abuse 10 favors this hypothesis. Contradictory findings on the burden of PD symptoms in punding has been published, 21,22 and this finding needs to be replicated by future studies.…”