Increased risk of sleep-related movement disorder in patients with infection: A nationwide population-based study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Evidence increasingly suggests that infection (HPI) is associated with movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the relationship between HPI and sleep-related movement disorders (SRMD) remains unknown. This nationwide population-based study tried to demonstrate whether patients with HPI have a higher risk of developing SRMD in a general adult population.

METHODS

The study cohort enrolled 9,393 patients who were initially diagnosed with HPI between 2000 and 2013. Notably, 37,572 age- and sex-matched controls without prior HPI were selected as the reference. A Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed for multivariate adjustment.

RESULTS

Patients with HPI had a higher risk of developing SRMD (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 2.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.26-3.82, < 0.01). Patients with HPI aged ≥65 years exhibited the highest risk (HR = 3.01, 95% CI = 1.90-5.30, < 0.001), followed by patients aged 45-64 years (HR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.26-2.90, <0.01) and <45 years (HR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.12-2.49, < 0.01). Patients were most likely to develop SRMD 5 years or more after diagnosis of HPI (HR = 3.33, 95% CI = 1.97-5.89, < 0.001). The increased risk of SRMD in male patients with HPI (HR = 2.73, 95% CI = 1.53-4.79, < 0.001) was greater than in female patients (HR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.04-1.65, < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Patients with HPI were associated with an increased risk for SRMD, with a higher risk in men, aged ≥65 years, and diagnosed for more than 5 years.