Motor features and response to levodopa in Parkinson's disease with normal olfactory function

MALCO ROSSI; ALEX MEDINA ESCOBAR; ANDREA BRIL; MARCELO MERELLO

Berlin

Congreso; 20th International Congress of Parkinson?s Disease and Movement Disorders; 2016

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate motor features in the OFF and ON states and the acute levodopa response in Parkinson´s disease (PD) patients with normosmia compared to those with olfactory impairment.Background: PD patients with normal olfactory function may have a different clinical phenotype than those patients with olfactory impairment as recently described.Methods: Data of 169 de novo PD patients (mean age, 64.1±0.7 years; range, 25-84 years; 104 men) that underwent olfactory testing with Sniffin´ Sticks Test and were submitted to acute levodopa challenge for clinical prediction of sustained long-term dopaminergic response, who two years later fulfilled UKPDSBB criteria for PD, were analyzed. MDS-UPDRS-III OFF and ON scores, degree of improvement on acute levodopa challenge were recorded.Results: The overall frequency of normosmia was 33%. Gender ratio was equal in normosmic patients (50%), whereas it was significantly different among hyposmic patients (73% of males). Normosmic PD patients scored comparably to hyposmic and anosmic PD patients on the MDS-UPDRS-III scale in both OFF (p=0.4) and ON (p=0.3) states, degree of improvement with levodopa (p=0.3) and total tremor (p=0.2) and postural instability/gait disorder subscores (p=0.5), after controlling for age and gender.Conclusions: Normal olfactory function is common in early PD and was not associated with a better motor performance in comparison to PD patients with olfactory dysfunction.