Objective: To investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia, obesity, and sarcopenic obesity (SO) and their associations with non-motor symptoms in patients with early Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: SO is a condition characterized by decreased muscle mass and function accompanied by excess adiposity. These changes are commonly observed with aging and are associated with an increased risk of frailty and disability in older adults. Despite this clinical importance, the prevalence and clinical implications of SO in patients with PD remain unclear.

Method: We prospectively recruited PD patients with disease duration ≤3 years. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, the cutoff values for sarcopenia defined according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 consensus. Obesity was defined as body fat percentage ≥ 25.8% in men, ≥ 36.5% in women. Non-motor assessments included the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS) to measure overall non-motor symptom severity, the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson’s disease – Autonomic dysfunction (SCOPA-AUT) to measure autonomic symptoms, and the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) to measure global cognition.

Results: A total of 204 patients with early PD (mean age, 70.5 ± 9.7 years; 51.5% men) were included. The prevalence of sarcopenia, obesity, and SO was 22.1%, 63.2%, and 14.7%, respectively. Sarcopenia and SO were more prevalent in patients aged ≥70 years and in those with a Hoehn–Yahr stage ≥2, whereas the prevalence of obesity did not differ according to age or disease stage. After adjusting for age, sex, and disease duration, patients with SO had lower MoCA scores than those without SO (17.0 ± 6.3 vs. 20.4 ± 5.8, p = 0.033). However, NMSS and SCOPA-AUT scores did not differ according to the presence of SO. There were also no differences in NMSS, SCOPA-AUT, or MoCA scores according to the presence of sarcopenia or obesity.

Conclusion: Sarcopenic obesity is relatively prevalent even in patients with early PD. Although sarcopenic obesity was not associated with overall non-motor symptom severity, it appears to be specifically associated with poorer cognitive performance. Further studies are warranted to investigate whether targeted dietary and exercise interventions for sarcopenic obesity can slow cognitive decline in patients with PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-sarcopenic-obesity-and-its-association-with-non-motor-symptoms-in-early-parkinsons-disease/