Genetic Mutations May Help Predict Survival in Parkinson Disease

FRIDAY, July 1, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) harboring the LRRK2 or PRKN mutations may have longer survival times than those without a gene mutation, according to a study presented at the annual Congress of the European Academy of Neurology, held from June 25 to 28 in Vienna.

Aymeric Lanore, M.D., from the Paris Brain Institute at Sorbonne Université, and colleagues compared mortality in a multicenter cohort of PD patients carrying SNCA, LRRK2, PRKN, or GBA variants versus a reference group of PD patients without any mutations. Data were included for 2,037 patients, 890 of whom had died during follow-up.

The researchers found that compared to PD patients without mutations, those with LRRK2 or PRKN mutations had longer survival (hazard ratio of death, 0.5 and 0.42, respectively), while those with SNCA or GBA mutations had shorter survival (hazard ratio, 10.20 and 1.36, respectively) in multivariable analysis adjusted for age, sex, and time from symptom onset to first visit.

"These findings not only help increase our understanding of what drives the progression of Parkinson's disease, but they may also enable clinicians to have honest conversations with their patients about expected survival times -- just as cancer patients are told their prognosis," Lanore said in a statement. "This can empower patients to make decisions about their care and the time they may have left."

Abstract No. OPR-085

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