Sex differences in underweight and body mass index in Chinese early de novo patients with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Objective: There have been studies investigating sex differences in clinical manifestation of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, sex differences in underweight and body mass index (BMI) in de novo PD patients lacked systematic study. We aimed to compare sex differences in clinical features and related factors of underweight and BMI in Chinese de novo PD patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 253 untreated PD inpatients and 218 controls were recruited from Ningbo. BMI, demographics, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), supine and upright blood pressure, Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), homocysteine (HCY), uric acid, glycated hemoglobin, and lipid parameters were examined. Patients were assessed using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor scores and Hoehn and Yahr (HY) Rating Scale. Results: Female patients had a significantly lower incidence of underweight and higher BMI than male patients, and there were sex differences in serum lipids, HCY levels, and depression severity. Binary regression analysis showed that only in male patients was underweight associated with the UPDRS motor score and lower ΔSBP and ΔDBP values (all p