Objective: To report first results on the prevalence of cognitive non-motor symptoms in the Luxembourg Parkinson’s cohort (HELP-PD).

Background: HELP-PD aims to combine thorough assessment of motor and non-motor symptoms with various “omics” analyses in order to bridge the gap between clinical phenotypes and causally contributive genetic and environmental factors in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonism. So far stratification systems are only clinical and mostly based on the core motor syndrome, without consideration of the various non motor symptoms.

Methods: We presently recruit all available patients with idiopathic and atypical PD forms in Luxembourg and the Greater Region (adjacent areas from Germany, Belgium and France).We propose a long-term follow-up. Flexible participation permits engagement of patients at different levels, from basic to in-depth evaluation. We specially focus on vision and gait including device-based assessments. Beside assessment with 47 screening instruments captured by electronic system, there is mandatory blood, urine and saliva sampling.

Results: At 8 months we have recruited 149 subjects, including 40 control subjects and 109 PD patients (96 IPD, 6 PSP, 5 MSA and 2 vascular PD). Age and education levels were similar in the IPD (64.8 ±10.32 years; 13.11 ±3.64years) and control group (61.2 ±10.15years; 12.9 ±3.74 years). Mean disease duration was 5 years, with an average Hoehn and Yahr Stage of 2.18 ± 0.67, and mean MDS-UPDRS-III score of 35.41 ± 15.01. A positive PD family history was reported by 36 % of IPD patients.They performed worse than controls in the MoCA test (p=0.004), with a significant decline in the visuospatial /executive tasks (p=0.03), and the Luria-programming (p=0.019) and Go/no-go subtests (p=0.02) of the FAB. They achieved lower scores than controls in the Sniffin’ Sticks Identification Test (p<0.001) and in the questionnaires assessing depression (p=0.002), apathy (p=0.041) and sleep (p<0.001).

Conclusions: Despite ambitious assessment goals and multilingual environment, robust recruitment is achievable in this nation-wide cohort. The non-motor assessment battery produces sufficient and valid data and reconfirms preferential dysexecutive impairment, and special focus on vision and gait seems to be promising. We expect better stratification tools, once the direct comparison with the omics analyses will have started.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/neuropsychological-assessment-in-the-luxembourg-parkinsons-cohort-help-pd/