Objective: To evaluate the frequency of overweight and obesity in a cohort of patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Background: The relationship of overweight and obesity in Parkinson’s Disease is not well stablished, with conflicting results in the literature. More recently the use of GPL-1 inhibitors in PD patients has brought to light the possible relationship between obesity related factors, promoting inflammation and neurodegeneration, with some possible benefits due neuroprotection related to obesity medical treatment.

Method: This is a cross-sectional arm of a cohort of PD patients from Movement Disorders Outpatient Clinic at the northeast of Brazil, which are being investigated for non-motor symptoms and metabolomics. Patients were submitted to an initial evaluation regarding weight and and nutritional measurements, including height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) calculation, abdominal circumference, hip circumference and waist-to-hip ratio. Clinical data on PD profile, medication and an initial assessment of non-motor symptoms were also recorded. Serum samples were collected for future metabolomic analysis.

Results: A total of 56 patients were included, and 75% were male, with a median age of 62,5 years old. BMI had a medium value of 26,20. Only three patients had BMI under 20. Almost half the patients (46,4%) had overweight and a total of 17,8% of the patients had a BMI above 30, with 2 of them presenting obesity stage 2. Women had a higher disproportion related to abdominal circumference (86cm) as men had a higher waist-to-hip ratio when considering normal values.

Conclusion: This initial evaluation showed a high frequency of overweight in our population, which is quite worrisome when considering that these factors may be related to greater systemic inflammation. More studies are needed, especially related to metabolomics and inflammation, to further investigate the impact of overweight on disease severity and non-motor symptoms.

References: 1. Chen, Jinhu et al. “Meta-analysis: overweight, obesity, and Parkinson’s disease.” International journal of endocrinology vol. 2014 (2014): 203930. doi:10.1155/2014/203930
2. Mahapatra, Manoj K et al. “Therapeutic Potential of Semaglutide, a Newer GLP-1 Receptor Agonist, in Abating Obesity, Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis and Neurodegenerative diseases: A Narrative Review.” Pharmaceutical research vol. 39,6 (2022): 1233-1248. doi:10.1007/s11095-022-03302-1
3. Standaert, David G. “GLP-1, Parkinson’s Disease, and Neuroprotection.” The New England journal of medicine vol. 390,13 (2024): 1233-1234. doi:10.1056/NEJMe2401743

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/frequency-of-overweight-and-obesity-in-a-cohort-of-parkinsons-disease-patients/