Objective: To investigate the association between occupational solvent exposure and Parkinson’s disease using data from the PPMI Online cohort.

Background: Environmental toxicant exposure has been increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD)1,2,3. While pesticide exposure has been widely studied, the potential contribution of occupational solvents remains incompletely characterized. We evaluated the association between lifetime occupational solvent exposure and PD using data from the PPMI Online cohort.

Method: We conducted a cross-sectional observational analysis of 31,656 participants from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative Online study (www.ppmi-info.org),  including 8,795 individuals with PD and 22,861 controls .Exposure to 16 solvents was assessed using self-reported questionnaires capturing exposure for ≥100 days during the lifetime. Associations between solvent exposure and PD were evaluated using logistic regression models adjusted for sex, education, income, smoking, caffeine, and TBI. Multiple comparisons were addressed using the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate correction. Exposure burden was assessed by modeling the number of reported solvent exposures.

Results: Several occupational solvent exposures were associated with increased odds of PD. The strongest associations were observed for trichloroethylene (aOR 1.73, 95% CI 1.48–2.02), kerosene (aOR 1.72, 95% CI 1.51–1.96), and carbon tetrachloride (aOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.40–1.98). Additional significant associations were identified for mineral spirits(aOR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.30–1.56), methyl ethyl ketone(aOR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.17–1.56), toluene(aOR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.11–1.46), and jet fuel(aOR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.07–1.52). These associations remained significant after false discovery rate correction. Increasing solvent burden was associated with progressively higher PD risk (1 exposure: OR 1.37; ≥3 exposures: OR 1.55). A significant exposure response trend was observed, with a 17% increase in PD odds for each additional solvent exposure category (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.13–1.21).

Conclusion: Exposure to several organic solvents was associated with higher odds of PD in this cohort.These findings support the hypothesis that industrial solvent exposure may represent an underrecognized environmental risk factor for PD and highlight the need for longitudinal studies to clarify causal mechanisms and inform preventive strategies.

Table1

Figure1

References: Fundings
Data used in the preparation of this study were obtained from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database (www.ppmi-info.org; RRID: SCR_006431). PPMI, a public-private partnership is funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and funding partners. The authors of the present study did not receive specific funding for this work.
References
Cole-Hunter T, Antic S, Lim YH, Zhang J, Mortensen LH, Kees de Hoogh, et al. Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Incidence of Parkinson’s Disease: A Danish Nationwide Administrative Cohort Study. Movement Disorders; Available from: https://movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mds.70234
Krzyzanowski B, Beyene KM, Turner JR, Racette BA. Ambient Trichloroethylene Exposure and Parkinson Disease Risk in Medicare Beneficiaries. Neurology. 2025 Oct 21;105(8):e214174. Available from:https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000214174
ER;De D. Environmental toxicants and Parkinson’s disease: recent evidence, risks, and prevention opportunities. The Lancet Neurology . 2025;24. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41109237/

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/occupational-solvent-exposure-and-parkinsons-disease-an-observational-study-in-ppmi-online/