Inflammatory bowel disease and risk of Parkinson's disease in Medicare beneficiaries

Document Type

Article

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction precedes the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) by several years. PD patients have abnormal aggregation of intestinal α-synuclein, the accumulation of which may be promoted by inflammation. The relationship between intestinal α-synuclein aggregates and central nervous system neuropathology is unknown. Recently, we observed a possible inverse association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and PD as part of a predictive model of PD. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between PD risk and IBD and IBD-associated conditions and treatment. METHODS: Using a case-control design, we identified 89,790 newly diagnosed PD cases and 118,095 population-based controls >65 years of age using comprehensive Medicare data from 2004-2009 including detailed claims data. We classified IBD using International Classification of Diseases version 9 (ICD-9) diagnosis codes. We used logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to evaluate the association between PD and IBD. Covariates included age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking, Elixhauser comorbidities, and health care use. RESULTS: PD was inversely associated with IBD overall (OR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.80-0.91) and with both Crohn's disease (OR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.93) and ulcerative colitis (OR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.82-0.96). Among beneficiaries with ≥2 ICD-9 codes for IBD, there was an inverse dose-response association between number of IBD ICD-9 codes, as a potential proxy for IBD severity, and PD (p-for-trend = 0.006). CONCLUSION: IBD is associated with a lower risk of developing PD.

Medical Subject Headings

Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Case-Control Studies; Colitis, Ulcerative (epidemiology, therapy); Crohn Disease (epidemiology, therapy); Digestive System Surgical Procedures (statistics & numerical data); Female; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents (therapeutic use); Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (epidemiology, therapy); Male; Medicare (statistics & numerical data); Parkinson Disease (epidemiology); Prodromal Symptoms; Risk; United States (epidemiology)

Publication Date

5-1-2018

Publication Title

Parkinsonism & related disorders

E-ISSN

1873-5126

Volume

50

First Page

23

Last Page

28

PubMed ID

29459115

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.parkreldis.2018.02.008

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