Objective: To evaluate the burden of non-motor symptoms (NMS) among patients affected by Parkinson’s disease (PD) with respect to the general population and to evaluate possible gender differences in their occurrence.

Background: Several studies have demonstrated a high frequency of NMS in PD patients, often showing a higher prevalence among women. Nonetheless, NMS are common also in the aging population and only few studies have evaluated the possible gender effect among PD patients with respect to the general population.

Methods: The FRAGAMP study is a large multicenter case-control study involving five Movement Disorder centers located in Central-Southern Italy. Patients affected by PD diagnosed according to the Gelb’s diagnostic criteria were consecutively enrolled in the study. Control population was gathered from among healthy people who accompanied non-Parkinsonian patients and who were matched by age and area of residence. All subjects underwent a face-to-face interview and a neurological examination performed by trained neurologists. Presence of NMS was investigated in both cases and controls using a standardized questionnaire exploring the following domains: sleep, mood and cognition, gastrointestinal, urinary and sexual dysfunction; cognitive impairment and depression were assessed using the Mini Mental State Examination and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale respectively.

Results: The FRAGAMP study enrolled a total of 585 cases and 481 controls. Sleep, gastrointestinal and sexual dysfunction were the most frequent NMS in both groups. Among PD patients, all NMS investigated were more frequent among women excepting for sexual dysfunction. However,when compared with the control population, logistic regression stratified by sex showed a higher risk of developing all NMS excepting for urinary dysfunction among men with ORs ranging from 2.52 (95% CI 1.54 – 4.11) to 37.3 (95% CI 5.12-271.40).

Conclusions: In agreement with data from literature, the majority of NMS in PD are more frequent among women. However, when compared with a control population, men showed a higher risk of developing NMS, probably due to a different background risk.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gender-effect-on-non-motor-symptoms-in-parkinsons-disease-are-men-more-at-risk-for-most-of-them/