Abstract

Objective: To study the prevalence of type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and determine the impact of managing T2DM on the severity of PD symptoms.
Methods: A retrospective cohort review was carried out at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guards-Health Affairs (KAMC-NGHA) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from February to September 2023. The study included all PD patients who were admitted to KAMC-NGHA. The participants were divided into two groups: those with diabetes mellitus (DM) and those without DM. In the diabetes group, the patients were further classified as controlled and uncontrolled diabetes based on glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) levels, specifically targeting a threshold of 7.0%.
Results: Of the 225 total PD patients, 145 (64.4%) had diabetes, while 80 (35.6%) did not. According to the Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) scale, stage 5 PD was prevalent in both the diabetic and non-diabetic groups. When comparing controlled and uncontrolled diabetic patients, a statistically significant difference in the severity of PD was found (p = 0.029).
Conclusion: The study showed a significant extent of T2DM among PD patients. Moreover, an obvious difference in the severity of PD was spotted in individuals with diabetes, especially when comparing controlled and uncontrolled DM.

Key words: Diabetes mellitus, Parkinson’s disease, prevalence