Objective: Understand the role of old-age onset in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) motor and non-motor phenotype. 

Background: Advancing age is a risk factor for PD. With population aging it is expected that the total number of patients with PD onset at old-age increases. 

Methods: We recruited 24 patients with PD onset at or over 75 years-old. Each patient was matched with 1 control patient with PD onset between the ages of 40 and 65, matched for disease duration. Groups were assessed with the UPDRS, the Non-motor symptoms scale (NMSS) and other scales to assess non-motor symptoms. Groups were compared with conditional logistic regression analysis

Results: Old-age onset PD were, on average, 80 years old at the time of PD onset while middle age onset were 59. Disease duration was approximately 5 years in both groups. While no difference was observed in the total UPDRS-III scores, old-age onset PD was associated with higher axial symptoms (7.42 vs. 4.63, p=0.011) and a higher frequency of dementia (7/24 vs. 0/24, p=0.009). While no difference in the total number of non-motor symptoms was observed (6.79 vs. 6.22, p=0.310), old-age onset patients had a higher prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms (20/24 vs. 12/24, p=0.037).

Conclusions: For the same disease duration, older age onset is associated with worse axial motor dysfunction and dementia in PD patients. Beside gastrointestinal symptoms, non-motor symptoms are not associated with age

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/motor-and-non-motor-symptoms-in-old-age-onset-parkinsons-disease-patients/