Objective: To assess whether and how pre- and postdiagnosis physical activities affect motor function, cognition, and depression among Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients.

Background: Physical activities are beneficial for health in general and animal models have suggested that exercise might be able to slow progression in Parkinson’s disease possibly by generating neurotrophic factors. However, to date little human data exists.

Methods: We examined physical activity in a longitudinal cohort of 242 incident PD patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2007 and followed on average up to 7.5 years after diagnosis. We obtained adult physical activity information at baseline and collected daily physical activity at follow up, and repeatedly (2-3 times) assessed motor, cognitive and depressive symptoms progression via the Unified Parkinson’s disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Data were analyzed using linear regression analyses and mixed effect models.

Results: Pre-diagnosis physical activity was not associated with outcomes in terms of UPDRS, MMSE and GDS scores at follow up. Higher levels of post-diagnosis physical activity were found to be associated with better motor and cognitive function and less depressive symptoms. However, lower level of post-diagnosis physical activity at baseline only showed a faster decline in motor function (UPDRS: β=0.68, p=0.07).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that only post-diagnosis physical activities may influence PD motor, cognitive and depressive symptoms and staying physically active may be important to reduce the deleterious effects of PD progression.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-pre-and-postdiagnosis-physical-activity-on-the-progression-of-parkinsons-disease/