Category: Parkinson's Disease: Non-Motor Symptoms
Objective: We aimed to investigate factors associated with non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: PD is characterized by a variety of NMS, such as constipation, olfactory disturbance, sleep disturbance, and mental disorders, as well as motor symptoms.
Method: Patients with PD were evaluated using the Movement Disorder Society’s Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Parts I–IV, and NMS was assessed by the MDS-UPDRS Part I (self-assessment of NMS) and the REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) questionnaire. Patients were categorized by age into < 70 years and > 70 years (elderly) groups, by the duration of disease into early-stage and advanced-stage groups with a cutoff value of 5 years, and by gender into male and female groups, and Part I was compared.
Results: There were 431 PD cases (202 males, 229 females) with a mean age of 67.7 years, a mean disease duration of 6.4 years, and a mean total Part I score of 9.9. The Part I total score was significantly positively correlated (p<0.01) with age, disease duration, Parts II, III, and RBD. For the Part I sub-scores, the older group had significantly higher scores for cognitive dysfunction, hallucinations, sleep, urination, and constipation, while the advanced-stage group had significantly higher scores for hallucinations, sleep, drowsiness, pain, urination, and constipation (p<0.05). In terms of gender, anxiety was higher in women, while sleepiness, urination, and RBD were higher in men (p<0.05). Factors affecting Part I were Part II and a levodopa-equivalent dose.
Conclusion: According to a self-questionnaire assessment, NMS was more severe in older patients, cases with a longer duration of illness, those with subjective and objective motor function impairment, and those with RBD. Gender differences were also observed, with sleepiness presumably due to the higher prevalence of RBD in males.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
R. Morimoto, M. Iijima, Y. Okuma, K. Suzuki, F. Yoshii, S. Nogawa, T. Osada, K. Kitagawa. Associations between non-motor symptoms and patient characteristics in Parkinson’s disease: A multicenter cross-sectional study [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2023; 38 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/associations-between-non-motor-symptoms-and-patient-characteristics-in-parkinsons-disease-a-multicenter-cross-sectional-study/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2023 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/associations-between-non-motor-symptoms-and-patient-characteristics-in-parkinsons-disease-a-multicenter-cross-sectional-study/