Background and purpose
GLORIA
, a registry conducted with 375 advanced Parkinson's disease patients treated with levodopa‐carbidopa intestinal gel (
LCIG
) for 24 months in routine clinical care, demonstrated significant reductions from baseline in ‘off’ time and ‘on’ time with dyskinesia and improvements in the Non‐Motor Symptom Scale (
NMSS
) total and individual domain scores, and in Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire 8 item (
PDQ
‐8) total score.
Methods
Associations between baseline
NMSS
burden (
NMSB
), the multi‐domain
NMSS
total score and the
PDQ
‐8 total score were investigated for 233 patients. Baseline
NMSB
was assigned to five numerical categories defined by the
NMSS
total cutoff scores (0–20, 21–40, 41–60, 61–80 and >80). Pearson and Spearman correlations were calculated at month 24.
Results
The response of
LCIG
was assessed using validated criteria after 24 months. The proportion of patients decreasing ≥ 30
NMSS
score points was 47% in the most affected
NMSB
category (
NMSS
total score > 80). A positive association was noted between baseline
NMSB
and
NMSS
total score (0.57,
P
< 0.0001), as well as between
NMSS
total score and
PDQ
‐8 total score (0.46,
P
< 0.0001). Associations between improvements of the
NMSS
domain sleep/fatigue and
PDQ
‐8 total score (0.32,
P
= 0.0001) as well as between the
NMSS
domain mood/cognition and
PDQ
‐8 total score (0.37,
P
< 0.0001) were also shown.
Conclusions
This analysis demonstrated positive associations between
NMSS
baseline burden and improvements of non‐motor symptoms. Improvements of non‐motor symptoms were associated with improved quality of life in advanced parkinsonian patients during a 2‐year treatment with
LCIG
and reflect the long‐term non‐motor efficacy of this treatment.