The prevalence of sarcopenia in Parkinson’s disease and related disorders- a systematic review

Abstract

Background The prevalence of sarcopenia (reduced skeletal muscle strength and mass), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Parkinson’s related disorders (PRD) all increase with age. They also share risk factors and pathogenetic features. An increased prevalence of sarcopenia in PD and PRD than the general population was thus postulated. Methods Four databases were searched using predefined literature search strategies. Studies conducted in participants with PD or PRD reporting the prevalence of sarcopenia and those providing data to compute the prevalence were included. Pre-sarcopenia, probable/possible sarcopenia and confirmed sarcopenia were defined according to the main sarcopenia working groups. Risk of bias was assessed using the AXIS tool. Results 1978 studies were identified; 97 assessed in full; 14 met inclusion criteria. The median study quality score was 15/20. The range of probable sarcopenia was 23.9 to 66.7%, and it did not change after excluding PRD participants. The prevalence of confirmed sarcopenia in participants with any parkinsonian disorder ranged from 2 to 31.4%. Including just PD participants, the range was 10.9 to 31.4%. In studies with controls, sarcopenia was more prevalent in PD and PRD. There was a positive non-significant trend between severity of motor symptoms and prevalence of sarcopenia or components of sarcopenia. High heterogeneity precluded meta-analysis, therefore there was insufficient evidence to conclude whether sarcopenia is more prevalent in PD or PRD. Conclusions Probable and confirmed sarcopenia are common in PD and PRD and they may be associated with disease severity. This co-occurrence supports the value of screening for sarcopenia in parkinsonian populations.

Correlation between motor function and health-related quality of life in early to mid-stage patients with Parkinson disease: a cross-sectional observational study

“… Yokote et al (2022) found that lower muscle strength correlates with gait performance in advanced Parkinson Disease. As a meta-analysis ( Hart et al, 2023 ) reported that the prevalence of probable sarcopenia, a condition associated with the loss of skeletal muscle strength and mass, ranged from 23.9–66.7% in the PwP population. This study showed moderately correlation between knee strength and HrQOL in patients at H&Y stages III.…”