Objective: To investigate whether sexual dysfunction precedes the classical motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Background: There is growing evidence that some symptoms can precede the classical motor features of Parkinson’s disease. Premotor symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease include constipation, loss of smell, sleep disturbances such as REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), and mood disturbances like depression. Sexual dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease is also a well-known non-motor feature. However, there are few studies to investigate whether sexual dysfunction is one of premotor symptoms and how long sexual dysfunction precedes motor symptoms.

Method: Forty-eight de-novo Parkinson’s disease patients who were mean age of 67 were recruited (male: 31, female: 11). We asked these patients about their sexual and motor symptoms.

Results: Forty-two patients (88%) out of 48 complained of sexual symptoms. Their Initial symptoms were the difficulty to develop or maintain an erection of the penis (2.3%), the difficulty to develop or maintain an erection of the penis + evacuation dysfunction (23%) , decrease in libido (57%), and unknown (17%). These incidence rates were significantly higher than the previous studied rates in healthy subjects. In 11 patients out of 48 (23%), onset of sexual symptoms preceded classical motor symptoms by an average time of 60 months (12 – 156 months).

Conclusion: Sexual dysfunction may precede the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and which, in particular decrease in libido, may be one of symptom of prodromal phase in Parkinson’s disease.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/sexual-dysfunction-precedes-the-classical-motor-symptoms-of-parkinsons-disease/