Comparison of Clinical Characteristics between Caucasian and Minority Parkinson's Disease Patients (P04.150)

OBJECTIVE: To examine the differences in demographic and clinical characteristics between Caucasian and non-Caucasian patients diagnosed with Parkinson9s disease (PD) and treated at a tertiary-care center. BACKGROUND: PD affects approximately 1% of the population over 60 years with a 2:1 ratio of men to women and a higher proportion of patients with Caucasian background. When considering diagnosis and treatment of patients, it may be important to consider differences in patient populations. DESIGN/METHODS: Patients with parkinsonism seen at the Movement Disorders Clinic at Boston Medical Center were entered into an established clinical database. Information was collected from the patients, family members, chart review, and the treating physician. Current age, and age of onset and diagnosis were compared between the Caucasian and non-Caucasian groups using t-tests. Male-to-female-ratio, side of onset, family history, disease complications, Hoehn & Yahr Score, current medications, and past medications of the groups were compared using chi-square analysis. RESULTS: There were a total of 671 distinct patient entries into the database between January 2007 and July 2012, of which 450 were diagnosed with PD. There were a higher proportion of males in the Caucasian subgroup compared to the non-Caucasians subgroup (60% vs. 41.8%, P= 0.002). There was a significantly different pattern of medication use in the groups, with more non-Caucasians on anticholinergics and Caucasians on more levodopa therapy. There were no other significant differences between the groups regarding demographic or clinical characteristics including age at diagnosis, side of onset, disease complications, Hoehn & Yahr score, and past medications. CONCLUSIONS: In this tertiary care, hospital-based population, there were a higher proportion of males in the Caucasian populations supporting a genetic and/or hormonal influence on PD. There were also differences in medication use between the groups, suggesting treatment and/or response disparities. Disclosure: Dr. Kaplan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Saint-Hilaire has received personal compensation for activities with Teva MOTION and EMD Serono. Dr. Hohler has received personal compensation for activities with Teva Neuroscience. Dr. Ellias has nothing to disclose. Dr. Frank has received personal compensation for activities with Lundbeck and Analysis Group as a consultant.