Objective: The current study aimed to utilise a dopamine genetic risk score and objective laboratory-based behavioural measures of impulse control to identify Parkinson’s patients most at risk of developing impulse control behaviours on medication.

Background: Destructive behaviours resulting from impaired impulse control can manifest in patients with Parkinson’s disease, more commonly in those who take dopamine agonist medication. Impulse control behaviours include but are not limited to compulsive buying, hypersexuality, binge eating and hobbyism. Dopamine genetics are known to play an important role in impulse control and can influence how someone responds to dopamine medication.

Method: Behavioural, clinical and genetic data were obtained from two groups of Parkinson’s disease patients: those on dopamine agonists, and patients taking dopamine medication other than agonists as a control group. A dopamine genetic risk score was determined for each patient dependent upon polymorphisms in genes which code for dopamine D1, D2 and D3 receptors, catechol-O-methyltransferase and dopamine transporter regulation. A higher dopamine genetic risk score reflected higher central dopamine neurotransmission. All patients completed the Anticipatory Response Inhibition task and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task to obtain objective measures of motor and cognitive impulse control, respectively. The Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson’s disease (QUIP) short version and rating scale identified impulse control behaviours and all patients completed the CNS vital signs neurocognitive testing procedure.

Results: Multivariate logistic regression models will test for significant associations between demographic/behavioural/genetic/clinical variables and impulse control behaviours identified on the QUIP. Our primary focus will be on the association between the dopamine genetic risk score and measures of impulse control for patients on dopamine agonists.

Conclusion: We will discuss these novel results in the context of the inverted-U relationship between dopamine neurotransmission and impulse control. The results are expected to answer whether objective behavioural measures combined with dopamine gene profiling can predict patients at most risk of developing impulse control behaviours, thereby progressing towards individualised treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/using-a-dopamine-genetic-risk-score-to-predict-impulse-control-behaviours-for-parkinsons-disease-patients/