Objective: The goal was to conduct a case-control study to assess associations between Parkinson disease (PD) and inflammatory conditions including allergies, asthma, eczema, atopic conditions, with the hypothesis that one or more of these conditions may increase the risk for PD.

Background: Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative condition and has debilitating effects. [1-4]. Despite the multitude of people affected by PD, its etiology continues to be poorly understood.  Recent studies have focused on establishing a link between inflammatory mechanisms and the diagnosis of PD.  A possible biological explanation is that inflammatory conditions may affect lewy bodies (LB) found in the brains of PD patients. [5-10]. Given how common inflammatory conditions are in the general population, understanding the role of these conditions may help better delineate risk and protective factors for PD.

Method: An IRB approved survey was distributed to individuals diagnosed with PD (N=149) and healthy controls over the age of 60 (N=105). PD cases and healthy outpatient controls were recruited through NYIT Adele Smithers Parkinsons Disease Center, Old Westbury, NY.  PD cases were physician-diagnosed with an ICD-9 code of 331.82, or ICD-10 code of G20.  Our exclusion criteria for controls included any patient evaluated for or with a diagnosis of a neuromusculoskeletal condition. 385 PD cases and 312 controls were sent the survey. The response rate was 38.7 % for cases and 33.7 % for controls.  Differences between comparison groups were tested using a chi-square statistic for categorical variables and a t-test for continuous variables. For multivariable analysis of categorical outcome variables, logistic regression was used to estimate age, race and gender adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals.

Results: There was an inverse association between environmental allergies and PD (OR=0.45, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.95, p=0.04). Asthma showed an inverse association to PD as well (OR= 0.33, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.90, p=0.03). Eczema, had a positive association with PD (OR=6.86, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.90, p=0.03).

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that certain inflammatory conditions may be associated with PD. Future studies should try to better evaluate the association between these conditions and PD.

References: 1. Baumann CR. Epidemiology, diagnosis and differential diagnosis in Parkinson’s disease tremor. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2012;18(suppl 1):S90–S92. 2. Berardelli A, Wenning GK, Antonini A, et al. EFNS/MDS-ES recommendations for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Eur J Neurology. 2013;20:16–34. 3. Reichmann H. Clinical criteria for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Neurodegenerative Dis. 2010;7:284–290 4. Parkinson’s Disease Foundation Statistics on Parkinson’s. Available at:www.pdf.org.en/parkinson_statistics. 5. Braak H, Del Tredici K, Rub U, et al. Staging of brain pathology related to sporadic Parkinson’s disease. Neurobiol Aging. 2003;24:197–211. 6. Del Tredici K, Braak H. Lewy pathology and neurodegeneration in premotor Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord. 2012;27:597–607. [PubMed] 7. Braak H, Bohl JR, Muller CM, et al. The staging procedure for the inclusion body pathology associated with sporadic Parkinson’s disease reconsidered. Mov Disord. 2006;21:2042–2051. 8. Braak H, Ghebremedhin E, Rub U, et al. Stages in the development of Parkinson’s disease-related pathology. Cell Tissue Res. 2004;318:121–134. 9. Guo, H., Callaway, J. B., & Ting, J. P. (2015). Inflammasomes: Mechanism of action, role in disease and therapeutics. Nature Medicine,21(7), 677-687. doi:10.1038/nm.3893 10. Brown, S., & Reynolds, N. J. (2006). Atopic and non-atopic eczema. BMJ : British Medical Journal, 332(7541), 584–588.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/inflammatory-conditions-in-parkinsons-disease/