Objective: To define the prevalence and severity of WL in patients of the Movement Disorders Unit of our center treated with LCIG and to analyze the factors that determine WL.

Background: Weight loss(WL) is frequent in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and is a biomarker of disease progression. Patients treated with levodopa / carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) may be particularly susceptible to WL. Causative factors for WL remain unclear and there are probably several contributing factors.

Method: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study. Demographic variables, PD duration, severity of dyskinesias, daily dose of levodopa, and nutritional variables: weight (kg) before and after the initiation of LCIG, BMI, recording of intake for 72 hours, indirect calorimetry, daily energy consumition, and analytical parameters were analyzed.
Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests.

Results: 10 patients were included. 60% presented WL and 80% more than 10%. WL was 13.5(5.25, 17.25) kg. Total intake was 1828.03[1546,12-2294,35]kcal/day. More than 75% of patients (77.8%) exceed their estimated energy requirements without significant differences between the two groups. No analytical parameters of malabsorption or statistically significant differences were observed in the presence of dyskinesias, energy expenditure, total daily dose of levodopa, and duration of disease between the two groups.

Conclusion: WL in our sample is frequent and represents a loss of more than 10% of the basal weight. We have not identified the causes that lead to this loss: the caloric intake is adequate and there are no clear differences between the two groups in variables that could potentially be related to WL. We see the need to carry out prospective studies with greater number of patients to identify the factors that condition this WL.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/loss-of-weight-associated-with-levodopa-carbidopa-intestinal-gel/