Objective: To analyze the epidemiological and clinical presentation in our immigrants patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) from our reference population in Barcelona, Spain.

Background: In Europe, the estimated number of immigrants patients with PD is 129,645, which represent the 8% of patients with PD. Although there are relatively few studies that analyze PD in the immigrant population, its incidence and clinical presentation may differ from the majority population of the receiving country. L’Hospitalet (Barcelona), the largest city in our health area, has experienced growth from 241,782 inhabitants in 2000 to 276,617 inhabitants in 2023, with a significant increase in the percentage of immigration from 2.44 to 24.43% in the same period.

Method: Initially, a descriptive study was performed on the 1,064 patients (71 immigrants) with PD treated in our health area in the period 2000-2023. The age of onset was significantly lower (p<0.0001) for the immigrant group (61.50±12.00 years) when compared to the natives (72.41±9.02 years). For this reason, we performed a case-control study, matching the 71 immigrant patients by age, sex and year of diagnosis. We analysed prodromal non-motor symptoms, initial symptom, previous use of dopaminergic blockers and total MDS-UPDRS in the first visit.

Results: Seventy-one immigrant PD patients (32 women) (mean MDS-UPDRS I 4.02± 4.00; II 6.91±5.01; III 16.26 ± 10.39) were matched with 71 natives PD patients (mean UPDRS I 3.69± 4.16; II 5.13±4.06; III 14.02 ± 11.45). Immigrant PD patients have less previous hyposmia (p=0.007) and use of dopaminergic blockers agents (p=0.032). There were no significant differences in initial motor symptoms and MDS-UPDRS I items. Within MDS-UPDRS II, we found significant differences in eating task (p=0.03), dressing (p=0.003), hygiene (p=0.003) and freezing (p=0.009), with worse punctuation in immigrants PD patients. Referring to motor evaluation by MDS-UPDRS III, we objectified more prevalent abnormalities in gait, left finger-tapping and alternating movements in immigrant PD patients with statistical signification (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Ethnicity and immigration status can influence the presence of hyposmia, previous use of dopaminergic blockers agents, impairment of activities of daily living, abnormalities in gait and left bradykinesia. There is an urgent need to conduct qualitative research that takes into account immigration and ethnicity in patients with PD.

« Back to 2024 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/influence-of-immigration-on-parkinsons-disease-analysis-of-clinical-presentation/