Association of homocysteine, folate, and white matter hyperintensities in Parkinson’s patients with different motor phenotypes

Objective To investigate the association of homocysteine (Hcy), folate, and white matter hyperintensities in Parkinson’s disease (PD) with different motor phenotypes. Methods Of the PD patients, 176 were included. Based on the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, the PD patients were classified into postural instability gait disorder (PIGD) and non-PIGD phenotypes. According to the Fazekas score, patients were divided into the none/mild white matter hyperintensity (WMH) group and the moderate/severe WMH group. The relationship of Hcy, folate, and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), and the motor phenotype of PD were analyzed. Results PD-PIGD patients had higher proportion of moderate/severe WMHs, Hcy levels, and lower folate levels than PD-non-PIGD patients ( p all ≤ 0.001). In the subgroup analysis, patients with both PD-PIGD and moderate/severe WMHs had the highest Hcy and lowest folate levels compared with others. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that age, folate, and Hcy were independent risk factors for WMHs. In an a priori-determined stratified analysis, after adjustment for confounding factors, the odds ratio of WMHs was 8.01 (95% CI 2.700–23.767, p trend = 0.001) in the patients with Hcy levels in the highest quintile compared with the lowest quintile and 16.81 (95% CI 4.74–59.65, p trend < 0.001) in the patients with folate levels in the lowest quintile compared with the highest quintile. Conclusions Our data showed a close association between WMHs and Hcy, folate especially in PD-PIGD patients. It can be speculated that higher Hcy and lower folate probably played important roles in the development of WMHs and motor heterogeneity in PD.