Subclinical Cardiac Microdamage, Motor Severity, and Cognition in Parkinson's Disease
Chi‐un Choe, Louisa Niemann, Catrin Englisch, Elina Petersen, Carsten Buhmann, Monika Pötter‐Nerger, Stefan Blankenberg, Christian Gerloff, Edzard Schwedhelm, Tanja Zeller
Abstract
BACKGROUND: We assessed if cardiac blood markers are associated with motor and cognitive function in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: High-sensitivity troponin I and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were evaluated in 285 PD patients. Furthermore, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels were analyzed in 570 age, sex and cardiovascular risk factor matched healthy controls. Motor (UPDRS, Hoehn &Yahr) and cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessemtn) were assessed at baseline in all 285 patients and after 1 year in 101 patients. RESULTS: N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide were significantly increased in 285 PD patients compared with 570 matched healthy controls. In PD patients, increased high-sensitivity troponin I and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels were associated with worse motor function at baseline and also with motor decline after 1 year. N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity troponin I were inversely associated with cognitive function at baseline only in unadjusted models. CONCLUSIONS: Subclinical cardiac microdamage is associated with motor severity in PD patients. © 2020 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.