Mental health disparities and the role of perceived discrimination among Latinx individuals living with Parkinson's disease

• Published in: Parkinsonism & related disorders 2023-11, Vol.116, p.105867-105867, Article 105867
• Main Authors: Jones, Jacob D., Uribe-Kirby, Ruth, Rivas, Rhiannon, Cuellar-Rocha, Priscilla, Valenzuela, Yenny, Luna, Kenya, Dashtipour, Khashayar, Santos, Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Health Status Disparities; Hispanic or Latino - psychology; Humans; Mental Health; Parkinson Disease - complications; Perceived Discrimination; Quality of Life - psychology
• ISSN: 1353-8020; 1873-5126
• DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2023.105867

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with motor and non-motor symptoms including depression and cognitive impairment. There is underrepresentation of Latinxs in PD research as most of the research consists of non-Latinx white participants. The current study investigates longitudinal differences in health disparities among Latinx and White non-Latinx individuals living with PD. As a second aim, we examined the associations between perceived discrimination in healthcare and outcomes from aim 1. The present study consisted of 25,298 individuals with PD who enrolled in the Fox Insight (FI) online study. Participants were followed annually for up to 3 years. Participants completed measures of depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), cognitive complaints, subjective motor symptom severity, self-reported income, and perceived discrimination in healthcare. Multilevel models examined the longitudinal differences in non-motor and motor outcomes among Latinx (n = 1161) and White non-Latinx individuals (n = 24,137). Latinx participants reported significantly more depressive symptoms and worse HRQOL than non-Latinx individuals. No significant differences were found in cognitive complaints, or motor severity between Latinx and non-Latinx participants. The main effect of perceived discrimination was associated with both depressive symptoms and HRQOL. The current study provides initial evidence of mental health discrepancies among Latinx individuals living with PD and White non-Latinx counterparts. The combination of underrepresentation in research and possible health disparities among Latinx communities may affect the quality of clinical trials/studies and patient care. •Latinx individuals with Parkinson's are underrepresented in research.•Latinx participants reported worse quality of life and depressive symptoms.•Greater discrimination was associated with worse outcomes.•Future studies may examine mechanisms of health disparities.