Dynapenic abdominal obesity is related to cardiovascular risk in older adults with Parkinson's disease: A cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Currently, the impact of nutritional status in Parkinson's disease over the cardiovascular risk is poorly understood. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate dynapenic abdominal obesity and its influence in anthropometric parameters of cardiovascular risk in older patients with Parkinson's disease. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving outpatients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in two treatment centers in northeast of Brazil. We included patients who aged 60 years and older. The data was collected from January to July of 2019. For abdominal obesity, waist circumference was used. For dynapenia, Handgrip Strength was measured. Dynapenic abdominal obesity was established as the coexistence of dynapenia and abdominal obesity. RESULTS: The dynapenic abdominal obesity occurred in 25% of the patients and was higher in women (p = 0.073). The dynapenic abdominal obesity group had a decreased muscle strength, higher values of Body Mass Index, a worse Waist Height Ratio; increased values of Fat Mass and percentual of Fat Mass and an increased value of Conicity Index (p < 0,05). CONCLUSION: The occurrence of dynapenic abdominal obesity in our population was related to the worsening of anthropometric values of cardiovascular risk. From our results we can suggest that the early identification of the coexistence of nutritional disorders, such as dynapenia and abdominal obesity can help in the appropriate intervention to mitigate the risks related to adverse events.

Phase angle, muscle mass, and functionality in patients with Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of phase angle (PA) with clinical and nutritional aspects in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) treated in an outpatient clinic in northeastern Brazil. METHODS: This is a case series study involving adults and the elderly with PD of both genders. We collected data such as stage, severity, and time of diagnosis of the disease, muscle strength, gait speed, and level of physical activity. We evaluated the nutritional status using body mass index, calf circumference, skeletal appendicular muscle mass index, and the presence of sarcopenia. We obtained the PA through the analysis by electrical bioimpedance. After obtaining the result of the division between reactance and resistance, with later transformation into degrees, we multiplied the result by 180/π. RESULTS: We evaluated 77 individuals with a mean age of 65.4 ± 8.9 years. 63.6% of them had reduced PA values and 19.7% of them had sarcopenia. Age (rho = - 0.423; p = < 0.001) was inversely correlated with PA. Skeletal appendicular muscle mass index (rho = 0.251; p = 0.028), pressure force (rho = 0.240; p = 0.035), and gait speed (rho = 0.323; p = 0.005) showed a direct correlation with age. When adjusted for confounding factors, only age remained associated with PA (p = 0.012). CONCLUSION: Most individuals had reduced PA, and only age was associated with this result. Aging is a risk factor for reducing muscle mass and physical disability in PD. Although this study indicates a relationship between PA, age, muscle mass, and functionality, further prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.