Category: Parkinsonism, Others
Objective: To investigate a possible association between smoking, the consumption of caffeine and the use of aspirin on age at onset (AAO), motor and non-motor symptoms of patients with idiopatic Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: PD is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, which is characterized by dopaminergic neuronal loss in the substantia nigra and the presence of Lewy Bodies. A common phenomenon in PD is a variable AAO that is considered to be a consequence of the combination of a variety of genetic and environmental factors.
Method: Our study consisted of 49,666 participants from the Fox Insight Cohort, of whom 35,963 were patients with PD and 13,703 were healthy controls. Questionnaires were offered to participants via an online survey platform. A subset of factors including smoking, coffee and black tea drinking and the use of NSAIDs were examined for a possible association with AAO and for an association with both motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms.
Results: Smokers with iPD had a median 2.7 year later AAO compared to non-smokers. In addition, a higher number of cigarettes per day and a longer smoking duration were associated with a later AAO (p<0.0001, p=0.0355). Coffee drinkers with iPD had a median 2.5 year later AAO compared to coffee non-drinkers and showed an association between the number of cups of coffee per week and the coffee drinking duration with AAO (p=0.0260, p<0.0001). Aspirin users had a median 4.9 year later AAO compared to PD patients not taking aspirin regularly. The aspirin intake duration also indicated an association with a later AAO the longer the patients took aspirin (p<0.0001). While coffee drinking was associated with better motor symptoms, smoking and aspirin intake were associated with worse motor and non-motor symptoms.
Conclusion: Smoking, coffee drinking and the use of aspirin is associated with a later AAO in patients with iPD. While coffee drinking is associated with improved motor symptoms, smoking and the use of aspirin are associated with impaired motor and non-motor symptoms in PD patients. Longitudinal follow-up is warranted for further investigation.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
C. Gabbert, I. König, T. Lüth, M. Kasten, A. Grünewald, C. Klein, J. Trinh. Coffee, smoking and aspirin are associated with age at onset and clinical severity in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2021; 36 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/coffee-smoking-and-aspirin-are-associated-with-age-at-onset-and-clinical-severity-in-idiopathic-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2021
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/coffee-smoking-and-aspirin-are-associated-with-age-at-onset-and-clinical-severity-in-idiopathic-parkinsons-disease/