Efficacy of Safinamide and Gender Differences During Routine Clinical Practice.

Background: There is increasing evidence of gender differences in the epidemiology and clinical manifestation of both motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Nevertheless, few data are available on gender differences in the response to antiparkinsonian drugs. Safinamide is a multimodal drug with positive effects on motor and non-motor fluctuations that might improve patients' care and quality of life. Objective: To analyze gender differences on clinical effects of safinamide in PD patients treated in real-life conditions during the SYNAPSES trial. Methods: SYNAPSES was a multinational, multicenter, observational study. At baseline, patients with PD diagnosis received safinamide as an add-on to levodopa and were followed up for 12 months, with visits performed every 4 months. A new statistical analysis was performed to describe the efficacy of safinamide in men and women on motor complications, motor symptoms, and adverse events. Results: Six hundred and sixteen (38%) out of 1,610 patients enrolled in the SYNAPSES study were women and 994 (62%) men. Safinamide improved motor symptoms and motor complications (fluctuations and dyskinesia) in both genders, with a good safety profile and without requiring any change in the concomitant dopaminergic therapy. Clinically significant improvements, according to the criteria developed by Shulman et al., were seen in 46% of male and female patients for the UPDRS motor score and 43.5% of men vs. 39.1% of women for the UPDRS total score. Conclusions: Safinamide was effective in improving motor fluctuations and dyskinesia and proved to be safe in both male and female patients with PD. Further prospective studies, specifically addressing potential gender differences in response to PD therapies, are needed to develop tailored management strategies.

Health-related quality of life in multiple system atrophy.

Although multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a neurodegenerative disorder leading to progressive disability and decreased life expectancy, little is known about patients' own evaluation of their illness and factors associated with poor health-related quality of life (Hr-QoL). We, therefore, assessed Hr-QoL and its determinants in MSA. The following scales were applied to 115 patients in the European MSA-Study Group (EMSA-SG) Natural History Study: Medical Outcome Study Short Form (SF-36), EQ-5D, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Mini-Mental state examination (MMSE), Unified MSA Rating Scale (UMSARS), Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) Parkinson's disease staging scale, Composite Autonomic Symptom Scale (COMPASS), and Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS). Forty-six percent of patients had moderate to severe depression (BDI > or = 17); Hr-QoL scores on the SF-36 and EQ-5D were significantly impaired. Pain, the only domain with similar scores in MSA and published PD patients, was reported more frequently in patients with MSA-P (predominantly parkinsonian motor subtype) than MSA-C (predominantly cerebellar motor subtype; 76% vs. 50%; P = 0.005). Hr-QoL scores correlated most strongly with UMSARS motor, COMPASS, and BDI scores but not with MMSE scores, age at onset, or disease duration. The COMPASS and UMSARS activities of daily living scores were moderate-to-strong predictors for the SF-36 physical summary score and the BDI and UMSARS motor scores for the SF-36 mental summary score. This report is the first study to show that Hr-QoL is significantly impaired in MSA. Although not all possible factors related to impaired Hr-QoL in MSA could be assessed, autonomic dysfunction, motor impairment, and depression were most closely associated with poor Hr-QoL, and therapeutic management, therefore, should concentrate upon these aspects of the disease.

Progression of multiple system atrophy (MSA): a prospective natural history study by the European MSA Study Group (EMSA SG).

The disease-specific Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale (UMSARS) has been developed recently and validated for assessing disease severity in multiple system atrophy (MSA). Here, we aimed at (1) assessing rates of disease progression in MSA and (2) validating UMSARS for sensitivity to change over time. Impairment was assessed at two time points 12 months apart using UMSARS Part I (historical review), UMSARS Part II (motor examination), as well as measures of global disease severity, including UMSARS Part IV, Hoehn and Yahr (HY) Parkinson's disease staging, Schwab England Activities of Daily Living (SE ADL), and a three-point global Severity Scale (SS3). Fifty patients (male:female ratio, 1:0.9; possible MSA, 16%; probable MSA, 84%; MSA-parkinsonian, 58%; MSA-cerebellar, 42%) were assessed twice with an interval of 12.3 months. UMSARS II scores progressed by 57.3% (P<0.0001) and UMSARS I scores by 35.6% (P<0.0001) in relation to the respective baseline scores with no differences between motor subtypes, diagnostic categories and gender. Significant inverse correlations between (1) UMSARS I or UMSARS II progression and (2) baseline disability measures (i.e., the respective UMSARS or SS3 scores) and disease duration were found. Furthermore, the increases in HY staging, SE ADL and SS3 correlated significantly with UMSARS I, UMSARS II, and UMSARS IV progression. This report is the first prospective study showing rapid annual UMSARS rates of decline in MSA. Our data contribute to the ongoing validation process of UMSARS, and they facilitate the planning and implementation of future neuroprotective intervention trials.

UCHL-1 gene in multiple system atrophy: a haplotype tagging approach.

To date, the etiology of multiple system atrophy (MSA) has proved impenetrable. We investigated the role of genetic variation in the UCHL-1 gene in MSA and looked for the presence of disease susceptibility alleles. We determined the linkage disequilibrium structure of the gene and employed a haplotype tagging strategy with power to represent 95% of the haplotype diversity. This approach was performed using a set of tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that can infer the allelic state of all the common SNPs in UCHL-1 with a high coefficient of determination. This strategy enabled us to scan across the gene and maintain the power to detect signal(s) from any potential functional variant(s). In 257 Gilman-probable or -definite MSA subjects and 1,536 controls, we did not detect a case-control frequency difference for either the tagged haplotypes or for individual tagging SNPs. This search included the S18Y variant of UCHL-1, which has been reported to be protective in Parkinson's disease.