Clinical features and relative factors of constipation in a cohort of Chinese patients with Parkinson's disease

Gastrointestinal Dysfunction Bears on the Clinical-Biological Profile of Parkinson's Disease

BACKGROUND

Gastrointestinal dysfunction (GID) accompanies any phase of Parkinson's disease (PD), underlying differential clinical-pathological trajectories.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate associations between GID and peripheral immune or neurodegeneration-related markers in PD.

METHODS

One-hundred-and-fourteen patients (n = 55 de novo, DN; n = 59 middle-advanced, MA) completed the Gastrointestinal Dysfunction Scale for PD (GIDS-PD), and other motor and non-motor scales; paired measurement of amyloid-β42, amyloid-β42β/β40, total-tau, phosphorylated-181-tau, total α-synuclein CSF levels, albumin ratio, and peripheral blood cell count were collected. Group and correlation analyses were performed.

RESULTS

MA patients had greater GID than DN. GIDS-PD scores directly correlated with MDS-UPDRS-III and non-motor scores in both groups, although more in DN. GIDS-PD scores were directly associated with α-synuclein and inversely with lymphocytes only in DN; conversely, they were positively associated with tau proteins and albumin ratio, and negatively with amyloid-β-peptides in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The burden of GID increases along the PD course with associated stage-specific clinical-biological patterns.

Breaking ground: nursing-led approach to alleviating constipation in Parkinson's disease

BACKGROUND

Constipation is one of the most common non-motor symptoms in PD patients, and the constipation, can appear before motor symptoms. Incorrect treatment of constipation in PD patients can result in colonic volvulus and pseudo intestinal obstruction, as well as a reduction in the therapeutic effect of anti-PD drugs due to absorption issues. There is, however, no comprehensive and scientific nursing intervention plan for PD patients' constipation who are constipated.

METHODS

A multi-disciplinary nursing research group of five people was established to construct the first draft of intervention plan through literature review. We chose 15 experts from 7 universities and tertiary hospitals spread over 5 provinces (cities), including 4 neurologists, 9 clinical nursing specialists in neurology, 1 dietician, and 1 rehabilitator. Two rounds of consultations were held from April to July 2022 with 15 experts to screen and revise the indicators at each level, confirming their importance and feasibility at each level.

RESULTS

There were three primary indicators (pre-intentional stage, intentional stage, and action stage) in the two rounds of expert correspondence, nine secondary indicators (disease risk perception, adverse consequence expectation, self-efficacy and intention of action; action plan, coping plan and coping self-efficacy; produce healthy behaviors, maintain healthy behaviors, recover behaviors and recover self-efficacy), and 22 tertiary indicators.

CONCLUSIONS

After the implementation of two rounds of Delphi method, the final formed constipation intervention program for PD patients provides the basis for clinical nursing practice, which has the characteristics of convenience, comprehensiveness, dependence, scientific and feasibility. Therefore, it has application and promotion value.

Parkinson's disease patients combined with constipation tend to have higher serum expression of microRNA 29c, prominent neuropsychiatric disorders, possible RBD conversion, and a substandard quality of life

INTRODUCTION

The symptom of constipation has been confirmed as an early diagnose criteria for Parkinson's disease (PD). Furthermore, evidences suggest that pathogenesis of PD initiates in gut, rather than brain. If so, identifying biomarkers for constipation in PD might have potentials to assist early diagnosis and initial treatment.

METHOD

We first identified that microRNA 29c (miR-29c) was dysregulated both in PD and constipation patients through bioinformatics analysis. Then, serological analysis of the expression of miR-29c in 67 PD patients with constipation (PD-C), 51 PD patients without constipation (PD-NC), and 50 healthy controls (HC) was carried out by qPCR. Demographic and clinical features were also compared. Patients in PD-C group were further classified into two groups: those with prodromal stage constipation (PD-C-Pro) (n = 36) and those with clinical stage constipation (PD-C-Clinic) (n = 31), to explore their different characteristics.

RESULTS

The levels of miR-29c in PD-C group were higher than that in PD-NC group, both higher than HC group. PD-C-Pro group's miR-29c levels were statistically higher compared with PD-C-Clinic group's. What is more, PD-C group had higher scores of MDS-UPDRS-I, NMSS, NMSS3, NMSS4, NMSS6, NMSS9, SCOPA-AUT, HAMD, HAMA, RBDSQ, CSS, and PACQOL compared with PD-NC party. Relative to the PD-C-Clinic, patients in PD-C-Pro group had higher MDS-UPDRS-I, NMSS, NMSS3, HAMD, and HAMA scores, and were more likely to have RBD.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicated that miR-29c seems to be an underlying cause for developing constipation in patients with PD and PD-C identifies a group of patients with more severe non-motor impairment, prominent neuropsychiatric disorders, and possible RBD conversion as well as a substandard quality of life. We further confirmed that there is a close relationship between symptoms representing the same pathological origin, especially constipation and RBD.

Efficacy of acupuncture for the treatment of Parkinson's disease-related constipation (PDC): A randomized controlled trial

Objective

To evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in treating Parkinson's disease-related constipation (PDC).

Materials and methods

This was a randomized, controlled trial in which patients, outcome assessors, and statisticians were all blinded. Seventy-eight eligible patients were randomly assigned to either the manual acupuncture (MA) or sham acupuncture (SA) groups and received 12 sessions of treatment over a 4-week period. Following treatment, patients were monitored until the eighth week. The primary outcome was the change in weekly complete spontaneous bowel movements (CSBMs) from baseline after treatment and follow-up. The Constipation Symptom and Efficacy Assessment Scale (CSEAS), the Patient-Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life questionnaire (PAC-QOL), and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) were used as secondary outcomes.

Results

In the intention-to-treat analysis, 78 patients with PDC were included, with 71 completing the 4-week intervention and 4-week follow-up. When compared to the SA group, weekly CSBMs were significantly increased after treatment with the MA group (P < 0.001). Weekly CSBMs in the MA group were 3.36 [standard deviation (SD) 1.44] at baseline and increased to 4.62 (SD, 1.84) after treatment (week 4). The SA group's weekly CSBMs were 3.10 (SD, 1.45) at baseline and 3.03 (SD, 1.25) after treatment, with no significant change from baseline. The effect on weekly CSBMs improvement in the MA group lasted through the follow-up period (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Acupuncture was found to be effective and safe in treating PDC in this study, and the treatment effect lasted up to 4 weeks.

Clinical trial registration

http://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx, identifier ChiCTR2200059979.

Gastrointestinal Dysfunction Impact on Life Quality in a Cohort of Russian Patients with Parkinson’s Disease I-III H&Y Stage

Background

There are still no clearly proven methods to slow down or stop the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). Thus, improving the quality of life (QoL) of patients with PD becomes of primary importance. Autonomic dysfunction and its symptoms are known to worsen the quality of life in PD, but the degree of this influence is underinvestigated. Particularly, impacts of the separate significant gastrointestinal symptoms, such as dyspepsia, constipation, and abdominal pain, in PD should be more precisely evaluated with the help of specific scales.

Objective

To assess the impacts of gastrointestinal dysfunction and its symptoms on PD patient's QoL using PDQ-39.

Methods

111 PD patients in the I-III Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage were enrolled in the study. The following scales were applied: UPDRS III, PDQ-39, GSRS, GDSS, MMSE, BDI, STAI-S, and STAI-T.

Results

The linear regression model showed that the PDQ-39 SI depended on summary assessments GSRS-SI (β = 0.333, p < 0.001), BDI (β = 0.463, p < 0.001), and UPDRS III (β = 0.163, p < 0.05). The use of the stepwise method, adding GSRS-SI and UPDRS III scores to the BDI predictor, improved the model (R2 increased from 0.454 to 0.574). The investigation of GSRS domain's influence revealed that PDQ-39 SI had a significant correlation with almost all of them, but the regression analysis showed significant QoL impacts of only two factors: constipation and abdominal pain (β = 0.288, p < 0.01 and β = 0.243, p < 0.05 accordingly).

Conclusions

Our results suggest a considerable negative influence of depression and gastrointestinal dysfunction (especially constipation and abdominal pain) on QoL of patients with PD. Their impact on QoL in patients with I-III H&Y stages of PD is more significant than that of motor symptoms. Therefore, the correction of depression and gastrointestinal dysfunction should be prioritized in PD therapy.