The impact of COVID-19 on palliative care for people with Parkinson’s and response to future pandemics

Introduction: Although in some countries, palliative care (PC) still remains poorly implemented, its importance throughout the course of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is increasingly being acknowledged. With an emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, growing emphasis has been placed on the palliative needs of people with Parkinson’s (PwP), particularly elderly, frail, and with comorbidities. Areas covered: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic poses an enormous challenge on aspects of daily living in PwP and might interact negatively with a range of motor and non-motor symptoms (NMS), both directly and indirectly–as a consequence of pandemic-related social and health care restrictions. Here, the authors outline some of the motor and NMS relevant to PC, and propose a pragmatic and rapidly deployable, consensus-based PC approach for PwP during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, potentially relevant also for future pandemics. Expert opinion: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic poses a considerable impact on PwP and their caregivers, ranging from mental health issues to worsening of physical symptoms–both in the short- and long-term, (Long-COVID) and calls for specific, personalized PC strategies relevant in a lockdown setting globally. Validated assessment tools should be applied remotely to flag up particular motor or NMS that require special attention, both in short- and long-term.