Parkinson's disease Nervous System Diseases
Conditions
Interventions
Current methodology as of 17/02/2026:
This will be a cross-sectional study, aiming to identify the prevalence of sarcopenia and frailty in PwP at a single hospital site in Ireland. Three work packages
Sponsors
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 110 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: 1. Adults aged more than 18 years old 2. Diagnosed with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1. Pregnant or breastfeeding participants 2. Significantly impaired functional ability, likely to affect their ability to attend for assessment 3. Significant cognitive impairment, likely to affect their ability to provide informed consent 4. Parkinsonism, not classified as idiopathic PD 5. Life expectancy of less than six months or receiving palliative care input 6. Participants with implanted medical devices such as pacemakers, deep brain stimulators and defibrillators will be excluded from the sarcopenia sub-arm due to potential interaction with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Current primary outcomes as of 17/02/2026: The prevalence of frailty (measured using the fried frailty phenotype, frailty index, and clinical frailty scale) and sarcopenia (measured using SARC-F, SARC-CalF, European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People revised criteria) in Persons with Parkinson’s disease (PwP) at time of cross-sectional study. Previous primary outcomes: The prevalence of both sarcopenia (as assessed by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in the Older Person 2 and SARC-Calf tools) and frailty (as assessed by the frailty phenotype and the cumulative deficits model) in an Irish cohort of Persons with Parkinson's Disease (PwP), measured in one visit. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Current secondary outcomes as of 17/02/2026: 1. The conceptual overlap in domains identified in validated tools used in frailty, sarcopenia, and Parkinson’s disease measured using qualitative content analysis in the current literature. 2. Demographic, clinical, and behavioural factors associated with frailty and sarcopenia in PwP, including age, disease severity (measured using Hoehn and Yahr Scale, Movement Disorder Society Revised Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale), physical activity (measured using International Physical Activity Questionnaire- Short Form, Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire- Exercise), comorbidities (measured using a structured checklist of common comorbidities), cognition (measured using Montreal Cognitive Assessment), mood (measured using Geriatric Depression Scale), and quality of life (measured using Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire- 8 item scale) using multivariable regression analyses at time of cross-sectional study. 3. Functional performance, including mobility (measured using timed up and go, gait speed) and activities of daily living (measured using Schwab and England Scale), and their relationship with frailty and sarcopenia status at time of cross-sectional study. 4. Lived experiences of Parkinson’s disease, perception of frailty and sarcopenia, enablers and barriers to exercise and physical activity, and quality of life, assessed through semi-structured interviews and inductive reflective thematic analysis at the time of the semi-structured interview. These experiences will be compared between robust PwP and Physically frail/ sarcopenic PwP. 5. Quantitative and qualitative findings comparing frailty and sarcopenia with lived experiences, integrated to identify convergent and divergent insights relevant to the clinical care of PwP, synthesized using joint display tables following the completion of the quantitative study and qualitative interviews. Previous secondary outcomes: 1. The perspectives and lived experience of PwP l | — |
Countries
Ireland
Contacts
Public ContactChris Reidy
Outcome results
None listed