Cropland associated with risk of Parkinson's disease in the northern Great Plains

Authors

Brittany Krzyzanowski, Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, 240 W Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ, 85013, USA. Electronic address: brittany.krzyzanowski@barrowneuro.org.
Kassu M. Beyene, Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, 240 W Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ, 85013, USA. Electronic address: kassu.beyene@barrowneuro.org.
Susan Searles Nielsen, Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, Missouri, 63110, USA. Electronic address: snielsen@wustl.edu.
Jordan A. Killion, Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, 240 W Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ, 85013, USA. Electronic address: jordan.killion@barrowneuro.org.
Brad A. Racette, Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, 240 W Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ, 85013, USA; Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, Missouri, 63110, USA; School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 27 St Andrews Rd, Parktown, 2193, South Africa. Electronic address: brad.racette@barrowneuro.org.

Document Type

Article

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: We sought to identify regional associations between cropland density and crop types and PD in the U.S. METHODS: We conducted a population-based study of 21,639,190 Medicare beneficiaries, 89,790 with incident PD in 2009. We used county-level geographic weighted regression (GWR) to identify region(s) of the U.S. where the association between PD RR and cropland density was strongest. In a broad region identified by GWR in which cropland density was associated with PD, we performed logistic regression using individual-level beneficiary data (2733 cases and 805,984 non-cases) with high-resolution cropland density data. We adjusted for age, sex, race, smoking, healthcare utilization, and PM (particulate matter <2.5 μm). We then explored PD-cropland associations for each type of crop within a subregion, in which the association was the strongest. RESULTS: GWR identified a 9-state region in the Great Plains in which county-level cropland density and PD RR were associated. Within this region, the strongest GWR coefficients centered around the Williston Basin. High-resolution analysis demonstrated an association between cropland density within a 5-mile radius of residential zip+4 and PD. When comparing the highest to lowest quartile of cropland density, the odds ratio (OR) for PD was 1.14 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.27) in the 9-state region and 1.99 (95 % CI 1.09-3.61) in the Williston Basin. In the Williston Basin, percentage of sunflowers, winter wheat, and alfalfa within 5 miles of a beneficiary's zip+4 was associated with PD. CONCLUSION: We identified a region-specific association between cropland and crop type and PD in the Williston Basin.

Medical Subject Headings

Humans; Parkinson Disease (epidemiology); Male; Female; Aged; United States (epidemiology); Crops, Agricultural; Aged, 80 and over; Medicare (statistics & numerical data); Risk Factors

Publication Date

3-1-2025

Publication Title

Parkinsonism & related disorders

E-ISSN

1873-5126

Volume

132

First Page

107288

PubMed ID

39855059

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.parkreldis.2025.107288

Recommended Citation

Krzyzanowski, Brittany; Beyene, Kassu M.; Nielsen, Susan Searles; Killion, Jordan A.; and Racette, Brad A., "Cropland associated with risk of Parkinson's disease in the northern Great Plains" (2025). Neurology. 2016.
https://scholar.barrowneuro.org/neurology/2016