Objective: To describe the environmental risk factors and family history in Argentinian patients with diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Background: Background: The current epidemiology of PSP is based on studies of North American, European or Japanese patients. As the environmental exposures vary among populations it is of interest to describe exposure to environmental risk factors in patients from South America. Shared lifestyle habits such as consumption of regional beverages derived from yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) containing chlorogenic acid and theobromine might further influence those risks.1

Method: This is an observational prospective recruitment of patients in different neurology clinics from Argentina. Diagnosis based on fulfillment of criteria MDS-PSP group (Höglinger et al, 2017)2 for probable or possible. Patients and a group of non-neurologically affected elderly (mainly spouses), matched for age and sex, are asked to complete a series of self-administered questionnaires: the Risk factors questionnaire Spanish version, which measures consumption habits (coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco), family history, environmental exposure to well water, pesticides and heavy metals, occupational toxicant exposure which includes chlorinated solvents, head injury, and body habitus.3 Additionally, a questionnaire of intake of regional beverages containing yerba-mate is administered.

Results: Preliminary data in 7 patients enrolled showed a mean age of 70±10 years with 56% female. Six patients manifested Richardson syndrome and one had corticobasal syndrome. Mean disease duration of 5±3 years. Exposure to well water was present in 42.86% of the patients, 14.25% have a family history of Alzheimer’s disease, and 14.25% have a history of childhood exposure to pesticides.

Conclusion: Our preliminary results showed slightly higher female prevalence of PSP and relativelly high exposure to well water. We expect to enlarge the PSP sample up to 45, include healthy controls, and people wiht Parkinson’s disease. The next step will be to expand the inclusion to other countries in South America.

References: [1] A. Bernardi et al., “Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) favors survival and growth of dopaminergic neurons in culture,” (in eng), Mov Disord, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 920-922, 06 2019.
[2] Höglinger GU, Respondek G, Stamelou M, et al. Clinical diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy: The movement disorder society criteria. Mov Disord. 2017;32(6):853-864.
[3] commondataelements.ninds.nih.gov/report-viewer/23723/Risk%20Factor%20Questionnaire%20(RFQ-U)%20-%20

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/environmental-risk-factors-and-demographic-of-patients-with-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-from-argentina/