Objective: To determine the features and characteristics of people with Parkinson’s (PwP) identified within a door-to-door prevalence study in Hai District, Tanzania.

Background: There is an ongoing community-based Parkinson’s disease (PD) prevalence study in Hai District, Northern Tanzania, within the wider framework of the Transforming Parkinson’s Care in Africa (TraPCAf), NIHR Global Health Research Group (1) . The majority of PwP identified are new diagnoses and treatment-naive. This presents an opportunity to evaluate the predominant features and characteristics of PwP.

Method: A door-to-door census was carried out within the Hai District Demographic Surveillance Site (DSS). The census included 5 screening questions, asked to all people aged 18 years and over, used in previous studies to identify possible PwP (2) . Those answering positively to one or more questions were assessed by a doctor for evidence of Parkinsonism. If present, participants were invited for assessment by a neurologist at the nearest tertiary referral centre for diagnosis of PD. For those diagnosed with PD, a number of validated scales, including UPDRS, were used to characterise the features of PD.

Results: Currently, 23 people (12 females, 11 males, mean age 66, range 47-91 years) have been diagnosed with idiopathic PD within the prevalence study. 15 of whom are newly diagnosed. Some established PwP had been lost to follow up and on sub-therapeutic doses of Levodopa or no longer taking medication. Despite 8 patients being established on treatment, dyskinesia burden was low, with only 2 patients reporting dyskinesia with relatively limited functional impact. The average time from onset of symptoms was 4.7 years (range 1- 18). Total UPDRS score averaged 98.6 (range 41 -165). Mean scores were obtained for non-motor 14.28 (range 2- 37), motor 20.04 (range 2-39), and examination 61.04 (range 10 – 101). Hoehn and Yahr scale averaged 2.5 with a range of 1-5.

Conclusion: A breadth of disease stages have been captured within the prevalence study, including established diagnoses and treatment naïve patients. Detailed assessments, biological samples and future collection of age and sex matched controls within the TraPCAf project will contribute to more understanding of this population. Characteristics of this cohort will be compared with previous prevalence cohorts and across the other TraPCAf sites.

References: 1. Walker R, Fothergill-Misbah N, Kariuki S, Ojo O, Cilia R, Dekker MCJ, et al. Transforming Parkinson’s Care in Africa (TraPCAf): protocol for a multimethodology National Institute for Health and Care Research Global Health Research Group project. BMC neurology. 2023;23(1):373.
2. Dotchin C, Msuya O, Kissima J, Massawe J, Mhina A, Moshy A, et al. The prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in rural Tanzania. Movement disorders: official journal of the Movement Disorder Society. 2008;23(11):1567–672.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/motor-and-non-motor-characteristics-of-parkinsons-disease-in-a-prevalent-population-in-tanzania/