Objective: To identify if baseline blood biomarkers are associated with non-motor symptoms in early PD.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with motor and non-motor symptoms, affecting many aspects of a patient’s life. This study aims to find factors that are associated with the disease severity in early PD patients. The longitudinal study compares various baseline blood biomarkers with the non-motor symptoms of early PD cohort, using standard scales for various profiles including sleep, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and apathy.

Method: Demographic and clinical information were collected prospectively from 195 early PD patients. Detailed non-motor assessments were done using the Non-Motor Symptom Scale for Parkinson’s Disease (NMSS) and various non-motor scales for sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), apathy (Apathy Scale) and anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and for fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale). Participants underwent fasting blood analysis for serum uric acid, lipid profiles, blood glucose, apolipoprotein A1, apolipoprotein B, vitamin D, C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine levels.

Results: A total of 195 (57.9% Males, Mean Age: 67.1±8.86) early PD patients were analysed with baseline fasting blood biomarkers and non-motor symptoms. Multivariate analysis was conducted with blood biomarkers to check for any association with non-motor symptoms, while controlling for age, gender, LEDD and UPDRS part 3 scores. Age was found to be associated with overall non-motor symptoms (λ=.882, F=2.24, p = 0.018).Uric acid (p=0.025), apolipoprotein-B (p=0.023), triglycerides (p =0.043)and HDL (p=0.033) were significantly associated with poor sleep quality.Total cholesterol (p=0.025) and HDL (p=0.019) were found to be significantly associated with anxiety. Fasting glucose was associated with higher apathy scores (p=0.039).There were no blood biomarkers that showed any correlation with depression and fatigue. Vitamin D, CRP and apolipoprotein A1 were not significantly associated with any non-motor symptoms.

Conclusion: Blood biomarkers including uric acid, apolipoprotein-B, triglycerides, HDL, total cholesterol and fasting blood glucose were significantly associated with various non-motor symptoms, such as sleep, anxiety, and apathy. These biomarkers should be further explored and validated as potential biomarkers for non-motor symptoms in early PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/blood-biomarkers-and-their-association-with-non-motor-symptoms-in-early-parkinsons-disease/