Dopaminergic treatment is associated with decreased body weight in patients with Parkinson's disease and dyskinesias

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Several studies suggested that patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) showed a too low body weight when compared with age-matched, healthy subjects. We aimed to investigate whether PD patients with dyskinesias display body weight alterations and to observe any correlations between medication and other putative determinants.

METHODS: Charts of 166 PD patients with fluctuations and dyskinesias, admitted within 6 months to a German movement disorders clinic, were investigated for body mass index (BMI), age at onset, disease duration, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor score, eating coordination and medication.

RESULTS: Analysis showed that 4.2% of PD patients were underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2)), 46.4% were normal (BMI > 18.5-25 kg/m(2)), 33.7% were overweight (BMI > 25-30 kg/m(2)), 15.7% were obese (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)). Daily levodopa dosage per kg and total dopaminergic dosage per kg body weight were negatively correlated with BMI. Overall, patients' BMI had not significantly changed within 2 years of follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: In sum, advanced PD patients showed a reduced BMI when compared with a control population obtained from an age-matched group taken from a survey of the German Federal Office for Statistics. Our findings indicate that patients with a lower BMI received a higher cumulative levodopa dosage and that levodopa may be responsible for weight loss in PD.