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Volume 09
Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
ISSN: 2161-0460
Epilepsy 2019
Parkinsons Congress 2019
August 29-31, 2019
JOINT EVENT
conferenceseries
.com
August 29-31, 2019 Vienna, Austria
&
5
th
International Conference on
Epilepsy & Treatment
5
th
World Congress on
Parkinsons & Huntington Disease
Gastro-intestinal symptoms in early stage parkinson’s disease
Nehal Yemula
University of East Anglia, UK
Background:
In Parkinson’s disease, here is growing evidence that the initial pathophysiological changes occur in
the gastrointestinal tract before changes are seen within the brain. We aim to investigate the prevalence of GIT
symptoms in early-stages PD and the association between GIT symptoms and the UPDRS.
Methods:
10 Early-Stage PD and 8 control patients were recruited from the Norfolk andNorwichUniversity Hospital.
UPDRS motor scores were completed at outpatient clinics with participants handed a PD-specific gastrointestinal
questionnaire whereby both the severity and frequency was assessed. The symptoms assessed were abdominal pain,
constipation, tenesmus, hard stools, reflux, dysphagia, early satiety and bloating.
Results:
The frequency of symptoms within the PD group were tenesmus (80%), bloating (60%), reflux (60%),
abdominal pain (50%), constipation (50%) and hard stools (50%), early satiety (20%) and dysphagia (10%). Tenesmus
(p=0.02) was the only symptom to show a statistically significant difference between PD and control groups. The total
median GIT symptoms score for PD and Control was 7.0 (IQR 2.0 to 9.0) and 1.0 (IQR 0.0 to 5.75), respectively with
statistical signifcance (p=0.05). For total gastrointestinal and UPDRS motor scores, there was a positive correlation
(r=0.239), although not significant (p=0.51).
Conclusions:
Gastrointestinal symptoms were present in the majority of early-stage patients. Lower gastrointestinal
symptoms were more prevalent that upper gastrointestinal symptoms which links in with Braak’s hypothesis. Further
research into the timing of the symptoms in relation to diagnosis is cruicial and may lead to earlier diagnosis of PD.
J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2019, Volume 09