Prevalence, risk factors, and clinical correlations of underweight in Chinese newly diagnosed and drug-naïve patients with Parkinson’s disease

Objective Studies have shown that patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) will experience weight loss during the progression of the illness, which suggests an increased rate of underweight. However, few studies have addressed underweight in early de novo population. This study aimed to examine the prevalence, risk factors, and clinical correlations of underweight in Chinese newly diagnosed and drug-naïve patients with PD. Methods A total of 245 inpatients with newly diagnosed PD and 213 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls were enrolled in Ningbo. BMI, demographics, supine and upright blood pressure, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) together with fasting blood glucose, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, uric acid (UA), and homocysteine were collected in all subjects. Hoehn and Yahr (HY) rating and Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor scores were also measured in patients. Results Overall, 35 (14.3%) patients were underweight and 14 (6.6%) controls were underweight. Binary regression analyses showed that low MoCA ( p = 0.035), ΔSBP and ΔDBP values (both p < 0.001) were risk factors for underweight. Furthermore, correlation analysis indicated that BMI was associated with HY grade, UPDRS motor, HAMA, HAMD, MoCA, ΔSBP, ΔDBP, and UA values, stepwise multiple regression revealed significant correlations between BMI and ΔSBP ( p < 0.001), ΔDBP ( p = 0.001), MoCA ( p = 0.002), UPDRS motor ( p = 0.005), and HAMD scores ( p = 0.014). Conclusions Our study showed that the prevalence of underweight was significantly higher in Chinese newly diagnosed and drug-naïve patients with PD than in the healthy population, and several clinical variables were risk factors for underweight.