Kolmancic, K; Perellón-Alfonso, R; Pirtosek, Z; Rothwell, JC; Bhatia, K; Kojovic, M; (2019) Sex differences in Parkinson's disease: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Movement Disorders 10.1002/mds.27870. (In press).

	Text (Article) Rothwell revised manuscript23julij.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (321kB)
	Image (Image) Figure2.tif - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (274kB)
	Image (Image) Figure3.tif - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (479kB)
	Image (Image) Figure4.tif - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (899kB)

Abstract

Background Demographic and clinical studies imply that female sex may be protective for PD, but pathophysiological evidence to support these observations is missing. In early PD, functional changes may be detected in primary motor cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Objective We hypothesised that if pathophysiology differs between sexes in PD, this will be reflected in differences of motor cortex measurements. Methods Forty‐one newly diagnosed PD patients (22 males, 19 females) were clinically assessed using MDS‐UPDRS part III, and various measures of cortical excitability and sensorimotor cortex plasticity were measured over both hemispheres, corresponding to the less and more affected side, using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Twenty‐three healthy (10 men, 13 women) participants were studied for comparison. Results Among patients, no significant differences between sexes were found in age, age of diagnosis, symptom duration, and total or lateralized motor score. However, male patients had disturbed interhemispheric balance of motor thresholds, caused by decreased resting and active motor thresholds in the more affected hemisphere. Short interval intracortical inhibition was more effective in female compared to male patients in both hemispheres. Female patients had a preserved physiological focal response to sensorimotor plasticity protocol, whereas male patients showed an abnormal spread of the protocol effect. Conclusion The study provides one of the first neurophysiological evidences of sex differences in early PD. Female patients have a more favorable profile of transcranial magnetic stimulation measures, possibly reflecting a more successful cortical compensation or delayed maladaptive changes in the sensorimotor cortex. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

Download activity - last month

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item