Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between some of the variables that may influence body weight and the observed body weight changes.

Background: Body weight change is a common problem in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous studies proposed numerous determinants to explain its underlying mechanism.

Methods: One hundred fourteen consecutive PD patients without dietary restrictions were prospectively evaluated during the ON state. Weight, body mass index, nutritional status (Mini Nutritional Assessment), physical activity energy expenditure (Yale Physical Activity Survey), as well as motor, non-motor and demographic variables were investigated. Structural Equation Modelling was used to calculate partial standardized regression coefficients (SRW), which are homologous to partial correlation coefficients for selected pairs of variables.

Results: Sixty (53%) were male. Mean disease duration was 8.3±5.6 years. A longer disease duration was negatively related to nutritional status (SRW=-0.25; p=0.01), which in turn was negatively related to body weight. PD severity was associated to reduced cognitive function (RW=-0.29; p=0.04), which was negatively related to nutritional status (SRW=0.23; p=0.01); the latter negatively related to body weight. Binge eating was directly and positively related to body weight (SRW=0.32; p=0.001). There was no influence of hyposmia (SRW=0.16; p=0.), depression (SRW=0.13; p=0.1) or swallowing impairments (SRW=-0.06; p=0.5) on the nutritional status or body weight.

Conclusions: Longer disease duration, PD severity and reduced cognitive function affect negatively on body weight, whereas the opposite was found for binge eating. The presence of hyposmia, depression or swallowing impairments do not affect nutritional status or body weight.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/body-weight-determinants-in-parkinsons-disease-a-multifactorial-study/