Exploring Sarcopenia in Parkinson's Disease Patients by Combining Serum Biomarker Levels

The onset of sarcopenia in PD may be intricately linked to both motor and non-motor symptoms. In terms of motor symptoms, sarcopenia exacerbates muscle weakness, impairs balance and gait, and may worsen symptoms like rigidity and bradykinesia in PD. Numerous studies have shown that sarcopenia is strongly associated with disease duration, Hoehn-Yahr staging, and Unified PD Rating Scale-III(UPDRSIII) scores. Regarding non-motor symptoms, sarcopenia contributes to increased fatigue due to muscle weakness, disrupts sleep patterns, exacerbates psychological distress including depression and anxiety, and may impact cognitive function. In addition, some studies supported that the incidence of falls, disability and death in PD with Sarcopenia were higher than those in PD without sarcopenia.

Nevertheless, other studies have reported controversial results. Some researchers believed that sarcopenia had no correlations with disease duration, HY, UPDRS-I/III, cognition and depression. However, most of the current studies are small cross-sectional studies that are not very convincing about the relationship between diseases. Thus, further studies with long-term follow up and large sample sizes are required to determine the causal direction of these relationships.

Inclusion criteria

Diagnosed as either ''definite'' or ''probable'' PD based on Chinese diagnostic criteria of Parkinson's disease (2016 version)

Exclusion criteria

Parkinson's syndrome or Parkinsonian superimposed syndrome due to encephalitis, cerebrovascular disease, poisoning, trauma, drugs or other factors