Early Parkinson related signs

Early Parkinson related signs

LASA filenames:
LASA096

Contact: Natasja van Schoor (group head),  Dareia Roos (investigator)

Background
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders [1]. The prodromal phase of Parkinson’s disease (PD), i.e., the period before the core clinical parkinsonian symptoms emerge, can last up to 20 years and is characterized by a variety of non-motor symptoms with still limited involvement of brain areas [2]. Theoretically, the identification of a prodromal phase provides the opportunity for early neuroprotective treatment aimed at preventing further spreading of disease-specific pathology and subsequent neuronal death.Therefore, it is important to detect possible signs of Parkinson at relatively young-old ages.

Measurement instruments in LASA
A questionnaire including potentially prodromal PD symptoms was included in the baseline interview of the third LASA-cohort (2012-13) as well as in the Migrant study (2013-14). Nine items to screen for motor symptoms potentially indicative of parkinsonism were assessed using the Dutch translation of a screening questionnaire designed byTanner [3] and validated by Duarte [4]. As defined in earlier studies, a score of three or more points was considered indicative of the presence of parkinsonism. In addition, three non-motor symptoms were asked separately: constipation, REM-sleep behavior disorder, and olfactory function. An olfactory test is used to assess hyposmia (i.e., loss of olfactory function) and is described in a separate documentation file:
https://lasa-vu.nl/topics/olfactory-function/

Questionnaires
LAS3B096 / LASMB096 (main interview, in Dutch)

Variable information
LAS3B096 / LASMB096
(pdf)

Availability of information per wave ¹

¹ More information about the LASA data collection waves is available here.

* 2B=baseline second cohort;
3B=baseline third cohort;
MB=migrants: baseline first cohort

Ma=data collected in main interview

Previous use in LASA
In [5], the screening questionnaire was studied in relation with six potential non-motor risk factors of PD, including the depression and anxiety symptom questionnaires and the MiniMental State Examination, as well as constipation, hyposmia, and REM-sleep behavior disorder. Approximately 11% of subjects had two or more PD risk factors. Motor functioning of subjects with two or more PD risk factors was significantly worse than performance of subjects without or with a single risk factor.

References
[1] Dorsey ER, Sherer T, Okun MS, Bloem BR (2018) The emerging evidence of the Parkinson pandemic. J Parkinsons Dis 8, S3-S8.

[2] Postuma RB, Berg D (2019) Prodromal Parkinson’s disease: The decade past, the decade to come. Mov Disord 34, 665-675.

[3] Tanner CM, Gilley DW, Goetz CG (1990) A brief screening questionnaire for Parkinsonism. Ann Neurol 28, 267-268.

[4] Duarte J, Claveria LE, de Pedro-Cuesta J, Sempere AP, Coria F, Calne DB (1995) Screening Parkinson’s disease: A validated questionnaire of high specificity and sensitivity. Mov Disord 10, 643-649.

[5] Roos DS, Klein M, Deeg DJH, Doty RL, Berendse HW. Prevalence of Prodromal Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease in the Late Middle-Aged Population. Journal of Parkinsons Disease 2022; 12/3, 967-974. DOI 10.3233/JPD-213007

Date of last update: March 20,  2023  (Dareia Roos)