Original Paper

Risk Factors for Parkinson's Disease: The Leisure World Cohort Study
Annlia Paganini-Hill

Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., USA

Address of Corresponding Author

Neuroepidemiology 2001;20:118-124 (DOI: 10.1159/000054770)

  Key Words

• Parkinson's disease
• Risk factors
• Smoking
• Alcohol
• Coffee
• Hypertension
• Vitamins

  Abstract

We conducted a case-control study nested within a prospective cohort study of 13,979 residents of Leisure World Laguna Hills, a retirement community in southern California, for etiologic clues for Parkinson's disease (PD). Between 1981 (when first mailed a health survey) and 1998, we identified 395 PD cases from death certificates, hospital discharge diagnoses and a 1992 follow-up questionnaire. Six controls were individually matched on sex, birth date (±2 years), vital status and, if dead, death date (±1 year) to each case. Baseline characteristics of the 395 cases and 2,320 controls were analyzed as potential PD risk factors. The risk of PD was significantly reduced among smokers, hypertensives, coffee drinkers and alcohol consumers, and significantly increased among those with 3 or more children and with a high intake of total vitamin A and dietary vitamin C. The multivariate odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 0.42 (0.22-0.80) for current cigarette smokers of 1+ pack/day, 0.62 (0.48-0.80) for current users of hypertensive medication, 0.71 (0.52-0.95) for coffee drinkers of 2+ cups/day and 0.77 (0.58-1.03) for drinkers of 2+ alcoholic drinks/day. Risk increased with increasing number of children (1.25 for 1, 1.34 for 2 and 1.90 for 3+ children; p for trend = 0.0003). The increased risks among individuals in the highest third of total vitamin A intake and of dietary vitamin C intake were no longer statistically significant after adjusting for the other variables. These findings suggest several environmental factors that may be related to the development of PD and support a multifactorial etiology.

Copyright © 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Annlia Paganini-Hill
842 Manzanita Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651-1960 (USA)
Tel. +1 949 376 1842, Fax +1 949 623 1222 ext. 7767
E-Mail annlia@juno.com

  Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 7
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 5, Number of References : 50