Follow-up observation of eye movements in multiple system atrophy and Parkinson's disease: a cohort study

We aimed to explore the changes in oculomotor deficiencies during the follow-up of patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Parkinson's disease (PD), and to investigate the value of dynamic eye movement examination in their differential diagnosis.

This was a cohort study conducted from 2017 to 2023.

The Movement Disorders Clinic at a tertiary hospital in Beijing, China.

56 patients with PD and 13 patients with MSA from an initial cohort of over 1100 with parkinsonism were included in the final longitudinal analysis.

Multisystem evaluations were performed at baseline. Videonystagmography (VNG) was repeated to assess oculomotor dysfunction at baseline and during follow-up. Abnormalities in the fixation and gaze-holding test, without-fixation test, reflexive and memory-guided saccade tests, smooth pursuit test and optokinetic test were qualitatively and quantitatively recorded and statistically analysed.

The median follow-up time of MSA (16 months) was significantly shorter than that of PD (27 months). In MSA, the incidence of abnormalities in fixation and gaze-holding tests (0% vs 30.8%, p=0.030), reflexive saccade tests (46.2% vs 84.6%, p=0.039, with slow saccades increasing from 7.7% to 46.2%, p=0.027) and smooth pursuit tests (38.5% vs 76.9%, p=0.047) increased significantly from baseline to the end of follow-up. In PD, no significant changes were revealed during follow-up.

MSA exhibited more rapid and prominent changes in fixation and gaze-holding tests, reflexive saccades and smooth pursuit tests than PD. Dynamic observation of oculomotor function may aid in the differential diagnosis of Parkinson's syndrome.