Objective: To analyze and compare the Rome IV Criteria of Functional Constipation between PD and HC, with that followed by MDS-NMS, intended for determining clinical symptoms of constipation.

Background: Gastrointestinal symptoms such as decreased bowel movements and defecatory dysfunction are chronic non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, patients are distressed due to constipation.

Method: Non-Motor Rating Scale (MDS-NMS) was utilized to score the frequency and severity of the non-motor symptoms confronted by 24 Parkinson’s Disease (PD) cases and compared with 12 Healthy Controls (HC). Scoring of the Rome IV Bowel Disorders questionnaires was employed to diagnose functional constipation in the same subjects. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation, frequency, and percentage were estimated, and the Mann-Whitney U test was computed to compare the difference between cases and controls.

Results: Demographic details of the subjects are tabulated (Table_1).  The data accessed and computed by Mann-Whitney U Test for non-motor symptoms by following MDS-NMS among subjects showed statistical significance in PD cases and more precisely to symptoms such as depression, anxiety, apathy, cognition, pain, urinary, gastrointestinal, sleep and wakefulness in comparison with HC. Similarly, data processed for functional constipation by following Rome IV Criteria was statistically significant in PD cases in comparison with HC. We observed that only 41.6% of the cases reported constipation by MDS-NMS (Figure_1), whereas 75%  of the cases were diagnosed with functional constipation by Rome IV Criteria (Figure_2).

Conclusion: Constipation in PD may be under-reported by MDS-NMS, based on decreased bowel movements. Rome Criteria will help in diagnosing functional constipation and treat the cases accordingly to ease their discomfort.

References: (1) Pfeiffer RF. Gastrointestinal Dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2018;20(12). (2) Yu QJ, Yu SY, Zuo LJ, Lian TH, Hu Y, Wang RD, et al. Parkinson’s disease with constipation: Clinical features and relevant factors. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):1–9.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/functional-constipation-in-parkinsons-disease/