Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore how having suffered through COVID-19 affects motor, nonmotor and general health aspects of Parkinson’s disease, and to map out how Parkinson’s patients perceive their change in symptoms since the time they had COVID-19.

Background: Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease with both motor and non-motor symptoms. COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the microbe SARS-CoV-2. Observations in COVID-19 patients such as hyposmia, neuromodulation and binding to receptors on dopaminergic receptors in the lungs, have caused speculation on a potential interaction between the two diseases.

Method: The study was investigator-initiated, descriptive, case-controlled, nationwide in Sweden, and based on both registry and questionnaire data. At baseline, the controls were matched on age, gender, and disease severity. Instruments measuring severity of disease, nonmotor symptoms, motor symptoms and general health were among the data retrieved from The Registry for Parkinson’s Disease and, the registry study was conducted by comparing the COVID19 group (n=45) to the control group (n=72) post COVID-19. In the questionnaire study, questionnaires consisting of similar instruments, combined with an investigator-constructed instrument about perception of change post COVID-19 were completed by a COVID-19 group (n=20) and a control group (n=32).

Results: We did not find that SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to no SARS-CoV-2 infection, affects any major aspect of nonmotor symptoms, motor symptoms, general health, and perception of change in Parkinson’s patients post COVID-19. However, COVID-19 survivors reported reduced hours in off and perceived their general motor function as improved.

Conclusion: Although SARS-CoV-2 infection does not seem to in any major respect affect Parkinson’s disease symptoms, we found motor function to be slightly better post COVID-19 when compared to a control group. The findings warrant further investigations due to the small sample size and possible survivorship bias.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-parkinsons-disease-a-case-controlled-registry-and-questionnaire-study/