“The hope is that this model will allow us to test new approaches for the prevention or early treatment of Parkinson’s,” said Dr. Juan Li. “It may also help people to access care faster.”An innovative mathematical model developed by researchers at The Ottawa Hospital could one day help with the prevention and early treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

The model, called PREDIGT, incorporates known risk factors like family history, unexplained reduced sense of smell, constipation, sex, age, and potential environmental exposures to determine the likelihood that someone has early-stage PD or is at a higher risk of developing it. Importantly, the model does not require a clinical exam or assessment of movement-related symptoms by a doctor or nurse.

As described in the journal NPJ Parkinson’s Disease, the model was 90% accurate in separating recently diagnosed PD patients from controls in two different cohorts when including a simple smell test that can be done at home. The team is now conducting a clinical trial to see how accurate PREDIGT is in distinguishing PD from other conditions, such as dementia, and importantly, to see whether the age-of-onset can be predicted in those at higher risk of PD.

“The hope is that this model will allow us to test new approaches for the prevention or early treatment of Parkinson’s,” said lead author Dr. Juan Li, a Senior Clinical Research Associate co-supervised by Dr. Michael Schlossmacher and Dr. Doug Manuel. “It may also help people to access care faster.”  

Authors: Li J, Mestre TA, Mollenhauer B, Frasier M, Tomlinson JJ, Trenkwalder C, Ramsay T, Manuel D, Schlossmacher MG.

Core resources: Ottawa Methods Centre

Funding: Michael J. Fox Foundation, Parkinson Canada, University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.