MASS_PD: Muscle and Ageing Science Study in Parkinson's Disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Muscle and Ageing Science Study in Parkinson's Disease (MASS_PD): What is the role of skeletal muscle dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease?
IRAS ID
225071
Contact name
Avan Ahie Sayer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
8351, R&D Reference
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Parkinson’s disease becomes more common as we age, and will become more common in older people in the future due to our ageing population. In typical older adults, frailty is a common clinical syndrome, which is characterised by reductions in body reserve and function that has important harmful effects on physical and mental health. Frailty has overlap with sarcopenia, which is where there is a loss of muscle mass and muscle strength that occurs as people get older. Both frailty and sarcopenia have been recognised as important because they are common in older adults, because they are associated with serious health consequences and because there might be something that we can do to help them (for example, the conditions may be reversed by performing simple exercises). To date, there have been no studies of older people with Parkinson’s disease looking at detailed muscle examination and testing.
The aim of this study is therefore to examine muscle ageing in a small number of people (n=9) with Parkinson’s disease by measuring muscle strength, by doing detailed scans of the leg muscles and by examining the muscle under a microscope after taking a small muscle sample from the leg. We will also be looking at tests of memory to see if this has any relationship with muscle function. We have previously looked at these measures in older adults without Parkinson’s disease, and found that it was well tolerated and that participants enjoyed taking part.
The study will involve three visits over approximately four weeks, and appointments will be arranged at the convenience of participants. The initial visit will take place in the participant's home, and the following visits will take place at the Clinical Ageing Research Unit, Campus for Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle University.
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NE/0150
Date of REC Opinion
2 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion