HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Orlando, Florida, USA or Virtually from your home or work.

12th Edition of International Conference on Neurology and Brain Disorders

October 20-22, 2025

October 20 -22, 2025 | Orlando, Florida, USA
INBC 2025

Underrepresentation of specific ethnicities in Parkinson’s research: Insights and considerations for GLP-1RA use in management

Speaker at Neuroscience Conference - Sabthagi Sivathasan
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, United Kingdom
Title : Underrepresentation of specific ethnicities in Parkinson’s research: Insights and considerations for GLP-1RA use in management

Abstract:

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the demographic data of patient populations in 4 major Parkinson’s disease (PD) databases to identify potential underrepresentation within PD research, and to consider the implications of underrepresentation on the future use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) use in PD treatment.
Method: This study analysed the demographic data of the patient populations in 4 databases: Parkinsons Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) online, PPMI in-person, BIOFIND and the Parkinson family project (PFP). The analysis focused on the ethnic composition of participants.
Results: The study found that there was a predominantly White demographic across all 4 databases, with PFP at 91.8%, BIOFIND at 91%, PPMI online at 73.7% and PPMI in-person at 64.2%. It was also noted that the Asian ethnicity was represented 0.1%-2.0% of and the Black ethnicity was present 0.6%-4.7% of the databases. The minimal representation or complete exclusion of other minority ethnicities was also observed.
Conclusions: These findings therefore highlights the lack of diversity across PD databases and underlines the need for increased representation of minority ethnicities. This is further emphasised when considering the promising use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) in future PD research, as the ethnic groups most likely to benefit from this treatment are also those most underrepresented in research. Addressing these disparities is essential for the applicability of PD research and improved therapeutic outcomes.

Biography:

Sabthagi Sivathasan is a final year medical student at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. She holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from St Georges, University of London.  Her academic interests include neurology, public health and addressing health inequalities. This research project, which investigates the underrepresentation of specific ethnicities in Parkinson’s disease research and its implications or emerging treatments, was conducted as part of her medical school dissertation. This project was supervised by Jonathan P Bestwick, Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics at the Centre for Preventative Neurology, at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health.

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