The East London Parkinson's disease project - a case-control study of Parkinson's Disease in a diverse population.

There is a relative dearth of research on patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) from under-represented ethnic groups in the United Kingdom. The East London Parkinson Disease project seeks to understand the clinical manifestations and determinants of PD in a diverse population. Data on clinical features were collected, between 2019 and 2024. We assessed 218 patients with PD and 90 controls. Among them, 50% of patients and 64% controls identified as South Asian or Black. South Asian and Black patients had significantly worse motor scores compared to White patients (mean [SD], 42.2 [18.8], and 47.0 [16.6] vs 35.2 [16.4], p < 0.001 and p < 0.001). Cognitive impairment was more prevalent in South Asian (73%) and Black patients (75%) than in White patients (45%, p = 0.002). Our results suggest that patients with PD from South Asian and Black ethnic groups may have more severe motor and certain non-motor features, including cognitive impairment, compared to White patients.