Objective: The aim of this investigation was to estimate the prevalence of gastrointestinal disorders (GID) and non-motor symptoms (NMS) in a cohort of a cohort Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients attending a movement disorder clinic.

Background: Parkinson’s disease is more than just a progressive motor disorder. Instead, many patients experience non–motor symptoms (NMS) in addition to their motor symptoms of PD which include gastrointestinal, mood, behaviour, neuropsychiatric, and autonomic dysfunction disorders.

Methods: A total of 206 PD patients fulfilling PD-Brain Bank criteria for probable PD, attending a specialist movement disorder clinic for their initial (baseline) assessment, had additional GID and NMS outcomes recorded. This was repeated at between 24 and 36 months post baseline assessment.

Results: At Baseline, 48% of patients reported one or more GID. In addition to GID symtoms, 24.8% reported depression, 20.4% anxiety, 5.3% other neuropsychiatric disorders, urinary disorders 30.4%, pain 21.8%, dysphagia 7.8%, cognitive impairment 6.8%, hypertension = 46.1%, hypotension = 1.9%. Patients with GID symptoms were found to have significantly more anxiety, depression, nocturia, dysphagia, constipation and nausea (p < 0.001). Post baseline, 60.7% of the cohort reported one or more GID symptoms (p < 0.0001), the most frequent being nausea and constipation. Overall post baseline, PD motor symptom control worsened (p < 0.0001), 31.2% developed dyskinesia, and 20.4% dystonia. In addition, significant worsening of NMS were reported post baseline including urinary dysfunction, hypotension, sleep disorders, pain, cognitive impairment, anxiety, depression, other neuropsychiatric disorders and dysphagia significantly increased post baseline (p < 0.001). Over 50% of the cohort also reported one or more falls per year, and increasing difficulties with self reported activities of daily living (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: This investigation is one of the few that has reported the outcomes of PD motor and NMS longitudinally. It confirms that GID and NMS in addition to the motor symptoms of the disease in elderly PD patients do significantly progress over time. Patients with GID symptoms were also more likely to have increased anxiety and depression, dysphagia and nocturia. We believe that this investigation highlights the importance that GID and NMS have on the clinical course of PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-prevalence-of-gastrointestinal-disorders-and-non-motor-symptoms-in-a-cohort-of-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/