Gender and onset age-related features of non-motor symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease - A study from Southwest China

Background: Non-motor symptom (NMS) differences between male Parkinson's disease (PD) and female PD, and between early-onset PD (EOPD) and late-onset PD (LOPD) in Chinese populations remain largely unknown. Methods: A total of 522 PD patients from Southwest China were included. Patients were assessed using the Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS) and Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS). Results: More NMS and significantly higher NMSS score were found in LOPD patients than in EOPD patients (9.3 +/- 5.9 vs. 7.7 +/- 5.6, P = 0.005; 37.4 +/- 32.2 vs. 30.5 +/- 28.9, P = 0.018), while no such differences were found between male and female patients. The NMS of gastrointestinal and urinary domains were more common in LOPD patients than in EOPD patients, whereas sexual dysfunction was more common in EOPD than in LOPD. The sleep/fatigue domain, the mood/apathy domain and "pain" symptoms were more prevalent and severe in female patients than in male patients while urinary symptoms were more common and severe in male patients. Significant positive correlations were observed between disease duration, Hoehn & Yahr stage, UPDRS Ill, and NMSS score in the total sample, subgroups of both male and female patients as well as both EOPD and LOPD patients. Conclusions: NMS are common in the Chinese PD population. LOPD patients are likely to present with more and severe NMS than EOPD patients. Males are subjected to urinary symptoms and females are subjected to mood/apathy, sleep and pain symptoms. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.