Olfactory Function, Eating Ability, and Visceral Obesity Associated with MMSE Three Years after Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines whether risk factors for poor nutrition are associated with global cognitive function three years after confirmed Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis. DESIGN: The follow-up investigations for this prospective community-based study were conducted three years after PD diagnosis. SETTING: The study participants lived in Västerbotten County, a region in northern Sweden with 142,000 inhabitants. PARTICIPANTS: This study population consisted of 118 PD outpatients from the study of Newly Diagnosed PD in Umeå (NYPUM). MEASUREMENTS: Global cognition was assessed with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) at baseline and at follow-up. Anthropometry, nutrition (Mini Nutritional Assessment, MNA, 3-day food registration, 3-FDR), olfactory function (Brief Smell Identification Test, B-SIT), and swallowing, cutting food, and salivation (single questions from the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, UPDRS) were used as markers for nutritional status. RESULTS: The MMSE score decreased over three years (-1.06±3.38, p=0.001). Olfactory function at baseline was associated to MMSE at three years (B=0.365, p=0.004). Changes in waist/hip ratio (B=113.29, p=0.017), swallowing (B=1.18, P=0.033), and cutting food (B=-1.80, p=0.000) were associated with MMSE at follow-up. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that olfactory function, cutting food, swallowing, and visceral obesity are associated with MMSE three years after PD diagnosis.

Cardiovascular risk factors and the risk of Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate whether serum triglycerides (S-TG), cholesterol, blood pressure and waist/height ratio are risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A population-based sample within the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS) was used in this study (n=101 790 subjects). Cases with PD were identified prospectively in a community-based study of idiopathic Parkinsonism in the period 2004-2009 in the county of Västerbotten in northern Sweden. The case database obtained was crosslinked to the NSHDS. Eighty-four of 147 patients with PD had visited the primary health care 2-8 years before diagnosis for participation in the NSHDS. For each case, four referents from the NSHDS population were selected, matched for sex, age, year of health survey, subcohort and geographic area. RESULTS: Cases had lower mean S-TG levels (P=0.007). After stratification for sex, the lower S-TG remained significant for men (P=0.006) but not for women (P=0.450), and these were confirmed by the conditional logistic regression for all cases, none adjusted (hazard ratio (HR): 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42, 0.99) and after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity (HR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.96). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was negatively associated with PD risk after adjustments for age, BMI and physical activity (HR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.97-0.99). Smoking and former smoking were associated with a reduced risk for PD. CONCLUSIONS: We found lower S-TG and SBP 2-8 years before a diagnosis of PD. Smoking was confirmed to be negatively associated with PD, whereas recreational activity indicates a risk for women.