Motor features in Parkinson's disease with normal olfactory function

Abstract

Normosmic Parkinson's disease (PD) might be a unique clinical phenotype with a more benign course when compared with hyposmic PD. The objective of this study was to evaluate motor features and the acute levodopa response according to olfactory function. A total of 169 de novo PD patients that underwent olfactory testing and acute levodopa challenge for clinical prediction of sustained long-term dopaminergic response were evaluated. The overall frequency of normosmia was 33%. Normosmic PD patients scored nonsignificantly different to hyposmic/anosmic patients on motor scale and on degree of improvement with levodopa. Motor scores at follow-up were comparable among groups. Normal olfactory function is common in early PD and was not associated with a different motor phenotype when compared with PD patients with olfactory dysfunction. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.