Intestinal Transit in Early Moderate Parkinson’s Disease Correlates with Probable RBD: Subclinical Esophageal Dysmotility Does Not Correlate
Table 1
Demographic, clinical, and scintigraphy data from patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and healthy controls (HC).
PD patients (n = 30)
Healthy controls (n = 28)
P value
Demographical and clinical data
Sex, male/female
20/10
18/10
0.99
Age, years
71 (66.6–74.6)
71.5 (66.9–75.8)
0.85
Height, cm
175.1 ± 9.5
173.5 ± 8.7
0.51
BMI, kg/m2
24.8 ± 3.6
25.7 ± 3.1
0.29
Time since diagnosis, years
6.5 ± 3.4
N/A
N/A
Motor symptoms duration, years
9.0 ± 4.0
N/A
N/A
Hoehn and Yahr stage (1/2/3)
4/23/3
N/A
N/A
MDS-UPDRS part III
23.7 ± 7.9
N/A
N/A
LEDD (mg of levodopa equivalents per day)
773.7 ± 272.1
N/A
N/A
Laxatives used (0/1/2/3/4 different types)
11/11/6/1/1
21/7/0/0/0
0.018
Orthostatic hypotension (yes/no)
14/13
0/27
<0.0001
ROM (number of markers)
31.3 ± 14.7
21.0 ± 9.1
0.002
Colonic transit time (days)
3.6 ± 1.5
2.6 ± 0.9
0.002
MoCA score
26.6 ± 1.8
27.5 ± 2.4
0.037
Sniffin’ Sticks score
6.9 ± 2.84
12.6 ± 1.48
<0.0001
RBDSQ score
5.5 (4–8)
1 (0–2)
<0.0001
ROME III functional constipation
11 (5–23.5)
2 (0–4.8)
<0.0001
ROME III functional esophageal disorders
3.5 (0–10.3)
0 (0–3)
0.12
SCOPA-AUT
16.5 (13.8–22.3)
7.5 (5–10.8)
<0.0001
MDT-PD total points
10 (4.5–20.5)
0 (0–3)
<0.0001
MDT-PD weighted score
3.5 (2.3–5.1)
2.4 (2.4–3.0)
0.12
Algorithm-based analyses of esophageal scintigraphy
Total transit (s)
5.47 (5.47–6.25)
5.77 (4.90–8.06)
0.47
Distal 6 centimeters (s)
2.23 (1.77–3.78)
1.88 (1.61–2.78)
0.05
Distal 4 centimeters (s)
2.09 (1.77–3.78)
1.56 (1.31–2.20)
<0.017
Distal 2 centimeters (s)
1.63 (1.02–2.49)
1.10 (0.77–1.53)
<0.040
Region of interest based analyses of esophageal scintigraphy
Total transit, ROI 1–10 (s)
6.41 ± 1.45
6.01 ± 0.84
0.35
ROI 1–4
0.90 ± 0.31
0.78 ± 0.20
0.11
ROI 7–10
3.11 ± 0.73
2.89 ± 0.64
0.28
Upper part (total passage time, s)
1.65 ± 0.32
1.63 ± 0.31
0.86
Distal part (total passage time, s)
6.76 ± 2.91
5.42 ± 1.13
0.075
Data given as mean ± SD or median (interquartile range). N/A, not applicable; BMI, body mass index; MDS-UPDRS, Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale; LEED, levodopa equivalent daily dose; MoCA, Montreal cognitive assessment; RBDSQ, REM sleep behavior disorder screening questionnaire; MDT-PD, Munich dysphagia test-Parkinson’s disease.
