Association of sarcopenia with Parkinson's disease and related functional degeneration among older adults: A prospective cohort study in Europe

Background: Former evidence on the risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD), especially the PD-related functional limitation and neurological outcomes was scarce. We aimed to explore the association between sarcopenia and PD along with the PD-related functional degeneration. Further, we testified the heterogeneity in the above relationships of multimorbidity severity and patterns.

Methods: Data was from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (wave 4-8). PD was ascertained by self-reported doctor diagnosis. PD-related functional degeneration was defined as the coexistence of PD and functional limitation, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. Sarcopenia status was determined by the criteria of European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People in 2019. Cox regression models were conducted to examine the association between sarcopenia and PD risk.

Results: Among 40,041 participants, those with sarcopenia were significantly associated with onset of PD (HR = 2.16, 95 % CI: 1.41-3.31), along with related functional limitation (HR = 2.58, 95 % CI: 1.59-4.19), MCI (HR = 2.93, 95 % CI: 1.37-5.15), and dementia (HR = 6.05, 95 % CI: 3.17-11.56). Heterogeneity of multimorbidity severity and patterns was found in the relationship of sarcopenia with PD-related functional limitation and MCI and the observed associations only existed among those with highest level of multimorbidity severity and those with complicated pattern.

Conclusions: Sarcopenia status was correlated to PD and the related functional degeneration and the difference in the above relationships of multimorbidity patterns and severity was observed. Early screening on sarcopenia-related indicators and more emphasis on the precaution of PD among those with severe and complicated multimorbidity patterns were recommended.