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. 2024 Feb;45(2):591-599.
doi: 10.1007/s10072-023-07029-8. Epub 2023 Sep 2.

Pregnancy, fertile life factors, and associated clinical course in PRKN early-onset Parkinson's disease

Roberta Bovenzi  1 , Matteo Conti  1 , Giulia Rebecca Degoli  1 , Rocco Cerroni  1 , Carlo Alberto Artusi  2 , Mariangela Pierantozzi  1 , Alessandro Stefani  1   3 , Nicola Biagio Mercuri  1 , Tommaso Schirinzi  4
Affiliations

Pregnancy, fertile life factors, and associated clinical course in PRKN early-onset Parkinson's disease

Roberta Bovenzi et al. Neurol Sci. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: As the most common cause of autosomal recessive early onset Parkinson's disease (EOPD), parkin type Parkinson's disease (PRKN-PD) may affect female patients in childbearing age. Accordingly, issues related to fertility must be adequately addressed. Here, we landscaped fertile life factors and pregnancy course of a PRKN-PD cohort, including both novel cases directly observed at our center and published ones.

Methods: Six patients with confirmed PRKN-PD were examined by a structured interview on reproductive factors and associated modifications of PD disturbances, including one case followed up throughout pregnancy which was described in greater detail. Six studies reporting fertile life factors of nine PRKN-PD patients were reviewed collecting homogeneous data on fertile life and pregnancy course.

Results: PRKN-PD female patients experienced motor fluctuations with the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and puerperium, which suggests a role for sex hormones in PD clinical burden. In some cases, abortion and miscarriages occurred during the organogenesis phase in patients receiving oral antiparkinsonian therapy; however, levodopa/benserazide monotherapy resulted to be the safest choice in pregnancy.

Conclusion: Collectively these data disclose the importance of pre-conception counseling in childbearing age PRKN-PD patients and EOPD in general.

Keywords: Early onset Parkinson’s disease; Fertile life; Parkin; Pregnancy; Sex hormones.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

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