Objective: To examine if differences in age of symptom onset, age of diagnosis, age of death, and number of years lived after diagnosis exist for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients among three different racial groups in Hawai`i.

Background: Most studies of PSP have been done in White populations. Previous studies suggested PSP may be more prevalent in Asians and Pacific Islanders than in Whites, but little is known about racial differences in disease characteristics. Describing age of symptom onset, diagnosis, and death and years lived after diagnosis in these racial groups will help us better understand racial differences in PSP.

Method: This single-center, retrospective study comprised 70 patients who self-identified as East Asian (Japanese, Chinese, or Korean), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI), or White and met the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) criteria for probable PSP from 2006 to 2020. Data obtained included age of symptom onset, diagnosis, and death and number of years lived after diagnosis. Student’s and Welch’s t-tests were used for analysis.

Results: Mean (SD) age (in years) of PSP symptom onset was 76.1 (8.2) in East Asians (n=48), 71.3 (7.5) in Whites/Caucasians (n=16), and 59.8 (4.1) in NHPIs (n=6); these differences were significant (p<0.05). Mean (SD) age of diagnosis was 79.7 (8.3) in East Asians, 74.5 (7.7) in Whites, and 61.8 (4.8) in NHPIs; these differences were also significant (p<0.05). East Asians and Whites were 84.6 (8.1) and 80 (9.6) years old at death, respectively (p=0.14), while NHPI age of death was 64.5 (5.3) (p<0.05 compared to East Asians and Whites). Years lived after diagnosis did not differ significantly between the three race groups (Table 1).

Conclusion: Among PSP patients in Hawai’i, NHPIs had the youngest age of symptom onset and diagnosis, followed by Whites, then East Asians. NHPIs died at a younger age than East Asians and Whites. Possible explanations include racial differences in underlying neurodegeneration or socioeconomic disparities in care. An assessment of confounding factors such as comorbidities (i.e. stroke, heart disease, diabetes) and socioeconomic factors (i.e. education level and health care utilization) may also help explain our findings. We plan to explore these factors with larger sample sizes in future analyses.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/variability-in-age-of-onset-age-of-diagnosis-and-age-of-death-for-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-patients-among-three-racial-groups-in-hawaii/