Cozac, Vitalii VVitalii VCozacEhrensperger, Michael MMichael MEhrenspergerGschwandtner, UteUteGschwandtnerHatz, FlorianFlorianHatzMeyer, AntoniaAntoniaMeyerMonsch, Andreas UAndreas UMonschSchüpbach, MichaelMichaelSchüpbachTaub, EthanEthanTaubFuhr, PeterPeterFuhr2024-10-242024-10-242016https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/146666OBJECTIVE To investigate the incidence of serious adverse events (SAE) of subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) in elderly patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS We investigated a group of 26 patients with PD who underwent STN-DBS at mean age 63.2 ± 3.3 years. The operated patients from the EARLYSTIM study (mean age 52.9 ± 6.6) were used as a comparison group. Incidences of SAE were compared between these groups. RESULTS A higher incidence of psychosis and hallucinations was found in these elderly patients compared to the younger patients in the EARLYSTIM study (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The higher incidence of STN-DBS-related psychiatric complications underscores the need for comprehensive psychiatric pre- and postoperative assessment in older DBS candidates. However, these psychiatric SAE were transient, and the benefits of DBS clearly outweighed its adverse effects.enParkinson's disease (PD)adverse eventsage factorsdeep brain stimulation (DBS)psychosis600 - Technology::610 - Medicine & healtharticle10.7892/boris.907192737547810.3389/fnagi.2016.00132