Non-motor symptoms in Chinese Parkinson’s disease patients with and without LRRK2 G2385R and R1628P variants

Abstract

Non-motor symptoms (NMS) are common among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, reports on NMS in Chinese PD population are scarce. Little is known about NMS in patients with Asian specific leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) variants in G2385R and R1628P. This study aimed to elucidate the clinical characteristics of NMS in Chinese PD patients and to ascertain if there were differences in NMS between PD patients with and without LRRK2 variants. A multicenter, observational study was conducted with 1,225 sporadic PD (sPD) patients recruited from a PD cohort of the Chinese National Consortium on neurodegenerative diseases, 163 participants had the LRRK2 variants. The Non-motor Symptom Questionnaire (NMSQ) was used to screen for the presence of NMS. This study found the majority of sPD patients (97.6 %) had at least one NMS. A mean of 8.72 NMS (SD = 5.43) was reported per patient. Forgetfulness, constipation and daytime sleepiness were found to be the most frequent NMS. Moreover, the number of NMS was positively correlated with the age, disease duration, Hoehn & Yahr stage and the motor scores of the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale. Although no discrepancy was found in the number of NMS between sPD patients with and without LRRK2 variants, nocturia was less common in LRRK2 variants carriers than in non-carriers (P = 0.045). NMS appear to be prevalent in Chinese sPD population. There are no differences in the NMS phenotype between LRRK2 and no LRRK2 patients.

LRRK2 G2019S Mutation: Prevalence and Clinical Features in Moroccans with Parkinson’s Disease

“…This feature is in line with other series that reported more sleep onset insomnia, few or no rapid eye behavior disorders, and less nocturia in LRRK2 G2019S carriers [41–43]. …”

Non-Motor Symptoms Assessed by Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire and Non-Motor Symptoms Scale in Parkinson's Disease in Selected Asian Populations

“…Access to medical care and in particular to neurologists is highly variable across different Asian countries and also could influence the expression of NMS. Li et al [23] identified that every PD patient reported at least one NMS, and this high prevalence might be explained by late referrals and insufficient knowledge about PD, which is in line with the conclusions drawn by Zhang et al [24]. …”

“…For instance, LRRK2 mutations have shown to be more prevalent in white Caucasian compared to Asian patients. However, Li et al [23] concluded in their study that genetic differences might not play a key role in the presentation of NMS. This, therefore, requires further investigation.…”

“…Li et al [23] analysed 1,225 Chinese patients, of which 13.3% ( n = 163) had a LRRK2 mutation. Among the entire population, they found that on average the patients reported 8.7 NMS with almost all (97.6%) reporting at least one NMS.…”

Olfactory Dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease Patients with the LRRK2 G2385R Variant

“…However, a few studies have reported that olfactory function is less impaired in genetic PD with the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) G2019S variant than idiopathic PD in Caucasians [5][6][7][8], while little information is available on olfactory function in PD patients with the Asiaspecific LRRK2 G2385R variant. Previous studies have shown that the LRRK2 G2385R variant is commonly associated with late-onset sporadic PD, which is clinically similar to idiopathic PD in Chinese patients [9,10]. Here we carried out a preliminary study to investigate the effects of the LRRK2 G2385R variant on olfaction in PD patients and healthy elderly controls.…”