Dopaminergic treatment is associated with decreased body weight in patients with Parkinson's disease and dyskinesias.
OBJECTIVE
Several studies suggested that patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) showed a too low body weight when compared with age-matched, healthy subjects. We aimed to investigate whether PD patients with dyskinesias display body weight alterations and to observe any correlations between medication and other putative determinants.


METHODS
Charts of 166 PD patients with fluctuations and dyskinesias, admitted within 6 months to a German movement disorders clinic, were investigated for body mass index (BMI), age at onset, disease duration, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor score, eating coordination and medication.


RESULTS
Analysis showed that 4.2% of PD patients were underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2)), 46.4% were normal (BMI > 18.5-25 kg/m(2)), 33.7% were overweight (BMI > 25-30 kg/m(2)), 15.7% were obese (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)). Daily levodopa dosage per kg and total dopaminergic dosage per kg body weight were negatively correlated with BMI. Overall, patients' BMI had not significantly changed within 2 years of follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
In sum, advanced PD patients showed a reduced BMI when compared with a control population obtained from an age-matched group taken from a survey of the German Federal Office for Statistics. Our findings indicate that patients with a lower BMI received a higher cumulative levodopa dosage and that levodopa may be responsible for weight loss in PD.
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany. cbachma@gwdg.de
C G
CG
Bachmann
A
A
Zapf
E
E
Brunner
C
C
Trenkwalder
D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020820:Dyskinesias / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000187:drug effects*
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D015259:Dopamine Agents; D007980:Levodopa