Objective: To compare the latency in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) diagnosis, from onset of motor symptoms to clinical diagnosis, by sex in Latin America.

Background: In PD, diagnosis can come up to 10 years after the onset of symptoms, with large differences observed between studies. Many factors can account for these differences, including varying access to specialist care. In addition, studies have found differences in early symptom manifestations in women compared to men, which may cause delays in their diagnosis. Very few studies have addressed these sex differences, especially in Latin American populations.

Method: The Latin American Research Consortium on the Genetics of PD (LARGE-PD) includes PD patients across the Americas. All LARGE-PD patients are diagnosed with PD based on UK Brain Bank diagnostic criteria and were ≥ 18 years old when recruited. Age at Onset and Age at Diagnosis (AAD) Data was available for participants in eight LARGE-PD countries. Time from onset of motor symptoms to PD diagnosis was calculated and compared by country, sex and AAD range. Two-tailed t-tests at 95% confidence were used to identify any statistical differences.

Results: We included 1,424 participants, 822 male and 602 female. Mean PD diagnosis latency for females was 1.4±2.5 years compared to 1.6±2.7 in males (Table 1). Our results show that PD diagnosis latency in LARGE-PD patients is not statistically significant between sexes overall, but it is in two countries (Table 1). Interestingly, significant differences were found at AAD ≤39 years, with female latency almost two years higher, and at both 70-79 and ≥80 years, with male latency about 7 months and ~3 years greater respectively (Tables 1-2). However, interpreting statistical significance for some of these analyses is difficult due to low population sizes.

Conclusion: Our results show that PD diagnosis latency in LARGE-PD patients is not statistically significant between sexes overall, although it is country and age dependent with younger females having the largest latency at almost 4 years. Interestingly, the combined overall mean diagnosis latency in LARGE-PD was slightly later than studies in China, and similar or up to a year earlier than studies in Europeans and other studies in LATAM. More and larger analyses stratified by sex are needed in all populations.

[table1]

[table2]

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/country-and-sex-differences-in-diagnosis-latency-of-parkinsons-disease-in-latin-american-populations/