Objectives: To survey correlative factors of apathy through investigating clinical features of motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients.

Our cross-sectional study included 120 clinical diagnosed PD patients from neurology department, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College. Apathy was evaluated using the Lille Apathy Rating Scale (LARS) and Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS) were used to access NMS.

Apathy was observed in 37.5% of PD patients in our study. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) were significantly lower in PD patients with apathy. The levodopa equivalent daily dose (LEDD), proportion of treatment with levodopa, scores of the H-Y stage, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III (UPDRS III), the 39-item PD Questionnaire (PDQ-39) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were significantly higher in PD patients with apathy. The prevalence of attention/memory domain with items “concentration” and “recent memory loss”, gastrointestinal domain with item “constipation”, urinary domain with items “nocturia” and “frequency micturition”, and items “difficulty falling asleep”, “lost of interest”, “apathy” and “feeling sad” were significantly higher in PD patients with apathy. The logistic regression indicated that lower MoCA scores, higher BDI scores and presence of urinary domain symptoms in NMSS were associated with apathy in PD.

Apathy was common in PD patients. PD patients with cognitive dysfunction, depression and urinary symptoms were prone to present with apathy.