As reported in Parkinson’s News Today, a new study has found that high blood levels of the antioxidant uric acid is correlated with heightened risk of developing levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in male patients with Parkinson’s disease. LID is a type of involuntary muscle movement that is as a side effect for the common treatment levodopa. This study is in addition to earlier findings that showed both female patients and those that experienced an early onset of the disease similarly have a higher risk for the dyskinesia.
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a rare progressive disorder that causes difficulty with movement. The disease is caused by loss of neuron functioning that produces dopamine which communicates between the brain and muscles, which affects the central nervous system. Patients often first experience mild symptoms like a tremor in one hand and advancing into tremors, rigid muscles, slowed movement, loss of balance, slurred speech, loss of balance, and in the worst stages, loss of the ability to walk as well as hallucinations and delusions. The disease usually impacts patients later in life, with the onset usually occurring after age 50.
The Effect of Uric Acid By Sex
The scientists dove in to find if the effect of uric acid levels varies based on the sex of the patient. Additionally, the link between uric acid and the LID muscle movement has never been specifically studied before. To find whether there is a correlation and whether it varied by sex, the researchers monitored 152 patients, half men, half women. The studied the patients for two years, evaluating both the likelihood of experiencing LID and uric acid levels.
They found while more women overall experienced LID, affecting 40.5% of the females and 29.5% of the males in the study, only men were at greater risk due to their uric acid levels. They had not expected gender would be a factor. However, the men who had blood levels of uric acid above 7.2mg/dl were 5.7 times more likely to experience LID. Their findings surprised them:
“Our study unexpectedly demonstrated that high UA level was an independent predictor of future development of LID in male PD patients.”
However, their novel findings mean it needs more review to make sure the result stands up under further investigation. For this reason, the researchers wrote,
“A further replicative study with a larger sample size is needed to draw a firmer conclusion.”
Hopefully before long, they can pull the pieces together to figure out why.
