Objective: We aim to characterize the impact of prior head trauma on Parkinson’s disease (PD) related outcomes.

Background: Previous head trauma is correlated with detrimental neuropsychological outcomes and has even been shown to increase risk of PD. However, there still exists a dearth of literature characterizing how prior head trauma shapes patients’ experience of PD.

Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving PD patients with and without prior head trauma experiences within a large health system. Our study’s anonymous questionnaire encompassed demographical, health history, and descriptive data. Discussed findings include both quantitative and qualitative data analyses.

Results: 25 patients successfully completed the study questionnaire. Patients with prior head trauma experiences on average were diagnosed with PD at an earlier age (60.9 vs 62.4 years), report greater number of areas of difficulty (2.3 vs 1.9), and hold more concurrent medical diagnoses (0.9 vs 0.5) than those with no prior head traumas. When only observing patients without relatives with PD, these trends continue to stand, and PD diagnosis age is even earlier (51.4 vs 65.2 years) amongst those with prior head trauma (Figure 1). When observing those without other concurrent diagnoses, PD patients with prior head trauma continue to have more areas of difficulty (2.2 vs 1.3) than those without head trauma. Moreover, amongst patients with prior head trauma, those that experienced loss of consciousness (LOC) during at least one of their head trauma events report a significantly greater number of areas of difficulty than those with injuries that did not include LOC (p=0.012) (Figure 2). While there are variations in PD treatment regimen throughout the cohort, patients both with and without head trauma utilize similar medical therapies. Furthermore, most patients with prior head trauma sought out medical attention after their injury (13 of 15); the majority of care received consisted of head imaging (10 of 13).

Conclusion: Prior head trauma increases risk for earlier PD diagnosis, increased areas of difficulties, and more concurrent medical diagnoses amongst PD patients. LOC during head injuries is strongly predictive for a greater number of areas of difficulty. PD treatment did not differ greatly between patients with and without prior head trauma experiences. Further study of post-injury care experiences and treatment impact on health outcomes is necessary.

PD Diagnosis Age by Prior Head Trauma

Impact of Loss of Consciousness during Head Trauma

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-prior-head-trauma-on-parkinsons-disease-experience/