Loneliness accelerates motor decline in older adults living with parkinsonism

HONOLULU, Oct. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- People with Parkinson's disease (PD) often experience isolation, leading to loneliness. However, new research has revealed that not only is this well-established connection a two-way street, but that loneliness itself may actually be the stronger predictor of worsening motor symptoms and physical decline.  

Study findings were initially presented at the International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders® in Honolulu. In a large cohort of individuals who had completed separate PD and loneliness clinical rating scales, investigators alternated loneliness and parkinsonism as outcome-predictors and learned that, over the long term (mean follow-up: 5.3 years), loneliness showed greater predictive power between the two participant-grouped multilevel models. 

"Loneliness remains an understudied and undervalued modifiable variable in PD despite having very clear evidence for poor outcomes in various other populations worldwide," said Dr. Indu Subramanian, Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles and Director of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Southwest PADRECC. "In this study, 1,700 patients completed a loneliness screen and the MDS-UPDRS Part III, with good representation of women and non-white participants. While there is a bidirectional relationship between loneliness and parkinsonism, loneliness seems to speed up the rate of decline of parkinsonism. 

"Given the fact that many of our patients are older and are at risk for getting isolated once they get diagnosed, loneliness should be screened in people living with PD, especially given the increase in loneliness after the COVID-19 pandemic. Targeted interventions to help people living with parkinsonism are also required." 

The full text of the abstract is available at mdsabstracts.org.

A bout the 2025 MDS International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders ^® : 
The MDS International Congress is the premier annual event to advance the clinical and scientific discipline of Movement Disorders, including Parkinson's disease. Convening thousands of leading clinicians, scientists and other health professionals from around the globe, the International Congress will introduce more than 1,800 scientific abstracts and provide a forum for education and collaboration on latest research and treatment findings. 

About the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society: 
The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society^® (MDS), an international society of more than 12,000 clinicians, scientists, and other healthcare professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. For more information about MDS, visit www.movementdisorders.org. 

SOURCE International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society