Wednesday 5 October 2016

Lower serum uric acid is associated with mild cognitive impairment in early Parkinson's disease: a 4-year follow-up study

Multiple studies suggest that elevated serum urate is protective against PD and reductions may lead to a more severe clinical picture... now that alteration of serum urate is a target in a phase 3 clinical trial we will see for sure how it affects PD...

J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2016 Sep 28. [Epub ahead of print]
Pellecchia MT, Savastano R, Moccia M, Picillo M, Siano P, Erro R, Vallelunga A, Amboni M, Vitale C, Santangelo G, Barone P.


Abstract

Cognitive deficits are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and many patients eventually develop dementia; however, its occurrence is unpredictable. Serum uric acid (UA) has been proposed as a biomarker of PD, both in the preclinical and clinical phase of the disease. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate relationships between baseline serum UA levels and occurrence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at 4-year follow-up in a cohort of early PD patients. Early PD patients, not presenting concomitant diseases, cognitive impairment or treatment possibly interfering with UA levels, underwent neuropsychological testing at baseline and 4-year follow-up. UA levels were determined in serum at baseline. MCI was found in 23 out of 42 PD patients completing 4-year follow-up. Patients presenting MCI had significantly higher age at onset and lower Frontal Assessment Battery scores at baseline as compared with patients cognitively intact. Logistic regression analysis showed that both serum UA levels (OR = 0.54, p = 0.044) and age (OR = 1.16, p = 0.009) contribute to the occurrence of MCI at 4-year follow-up. Our pilot study suggests that lower levels of serum UA in the early disease stages are associated to the later occurrence of MCI. These results need to be confirmed by further studies on larger samples.

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