title: Lower Bone Mineral Density in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study from Chinese Mainland.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  Significantly lower BMD in PD compared to healthy subjects in both genders.Less than 35 mg(2)/dl(2) of Ca-P product in >80% of PD patients.Significant correlations between BMD and severity of PD.Lower BMD at H&Y stage III/IV than that at H&Y stage I/II.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Although several lines of evidence have suggested that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have a higher risk of osteoporosis and fracture, the association between bone mineral density (BMD) and severity of PD patients is unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a cross-sectional study of 54 patients with PD and 59 healthy age-matched controls. Multiple clinical scales were used to evaluate the severity of PD, and serum levels of calcium, phosphorus, and homocysteine were measured to determine BMD's association with PD severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BMD in PD patients was significantly lower than that in healthy controls. The BMD scores of the spine, femoral neck (FN), and hip were lower in females than in males in the healthy group. In the PD group, BMD in the hip was significantly lower in females compared to males. There was a negative correlation between daily l-DOPA dosage and BMD in the spine and hip in the PD group, while BMD in the spine, neck, and hip was significantly correlated with severity of PD. Besides, we found that among the lumbar spine (LS), FN, and hip, bone loss in the LS was the most severe in PD patients based on the T-scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the hypothesis that patients with PD have a higher risk of osteoporosis, and that low BMD in the spine, FN, and hip may indirectly reflect the severity of PD. Our findings have prompted us to pay more attention to osteoporosis in the LS in Chinese PD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Jinchi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Jiehua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Ze
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston , Houston, TX , USA.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: Parkinson’s disease; bone mineral density; levodopa; motor symptoms; osteoporosis