Risk of Parkinson disease onset in patients with diabetes: a 9-year population-based cohort study with age and sex stratifications.

OBJECTIVE

We retrospectively assessed the age- and sex-specific incidence and relative risk of Parkinson disease (PD) in Taiwan's diabetic population.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Study cohort included 603,416 diabetic patients and 472,188 nondiabetic control subjects. Incidence rate and relative risk of PD (ICD-9-CM 332.0) were evaluated.

RESULTS

The incidence of PD was 3.59 and 2.15 per 10,000 person-years for the diabetic and control group, respectively, representing a covariate adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.61 (95% CI 1.56-1.66), which was substantially reduced to 1.37 (1.32-1.41) after adjusting for medical visits. Diabetes was associated with a significantly elevated risk of PD in all sex and age stratifications except in young women, with the highest HR noted for young men aged 21-40 years (2.10 [1.01-4.42]), followed by women aged 41-60 (2.05 [1.82-2.30]) and >60 years (1.65 [1.58-1.73]).

CONCLUSIONS

Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of PD onset in a Chinese population, and the relation is stronger in women and younger patients.