Objective: To summarize the literature on PD in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) countries including its epidemiology, clinical characteristics and unique genetic consideration.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) places significant burden on patients and health care systems.. Much progress has been made in elucidating PD pathophysiology. However, key gaps remain, and addressing them requires study of diverse samples of the PD population. The MENASA region comprises of predominantly developing countries that constitute one-third of the global population. They share features that allow them to be considered broadly as a group. There lie key opportunities to study determinants of PD in these non-Western regions, including genetic and environmental contributors.

Method: A scoping review of literature was performed. Articles pertaining to three main areas were identified (i) studies examining PD incidence and/or prevalence in MENASA countries. Case reports, case series, hospital or outpatient clinic registry descriptions were excluded (ii) reports on genetic contributions to PD from MENASA countries; due to the paucity of data, all abstracts (including case reports) were reviewed and those considered pertinent to PD genetics in MENASA countries were included and (iii) reports on clinical characteristics of PD from MENASA countries. Articles were identified via Pubmed search using key words “Parkinson’s Disease” and each individual MENASA country, as well as “Arab”, “North Africa”, and “South Asia” in different combinations.

Results: The literature review revealed that data on epidemiology, clinical characteristics or genetics from the MENASA region is very limited and mainly obtained from case reports, case series or studies with small sample sizes. As yet, available data indicates that there is unique genotype, environment factors and cultural influences which may affect the phenotype of PD in the region. This provides great opportunity for research in MENASA countries for disease risk factors, genetic predisposition, epidemiology, clinical presentation and natural history of the disease.

Conclusion: This review provides a brief framework within which to develop clinical and research goals accounting for differences in cultural, genetic, environmental and clinical considerations compared to Western PD populations.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/parkinsons-disease-in-the-middle-east-north-africa-and-south-asia-a-scoping-review/