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Total cholesterol and the risk of Parkinson disease

From the Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases Prevention (G.H., P.J., J.T.), National Public Health Institute, Helsinki; Department of Public Health (G.H., J.T.), University of Helsinki; Oulu City Hospital and Department of Public Health Science and General Practice (R.A.), University of Oulu; Department of Neuroscience and Neurology (M.K.), University of Kuopio; South Ostrobothnia Central Hospital (J.T.), Seinäjoki, Finland; and Aging Research Center (M.K.), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Gang Hu, Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases Prevention, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland hu.gang{at}ktl.fi

Objective: To examine the association between serum total cholesterol at baseline and the risk of Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: Study cohorts included 24,773 Finnish men and 26,153 women aged 25 to 74 years without a history of PD and stroke at baseline. Hazard ratios (HRs) of incident PD were estimated for different levels of total cholesterol.

Results: During a mean follow-up period of 18.1 years, 321 men and 304 women developed incident PD. After adjustment for confounding factors (age, study years, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, education, leisure-time physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, coffee and tea consumption, and history of diabetes), the HRs of PD at different levels of total cholesterol (<5, 5–5.9, 6–6.9, and 7 mmol/L) were 1.00, 1.33, 1.53, and 1.84 (p for trend = 0.035) in men; 1.00, 1.55, 1.57, and 1.86 (p for trend = 0.113) in women; and 1.00, 1.42, 1.56, and 1.86 (p for trend = 0.002) in men and women combined (adjusted also for sex). In both sexes combined, the increased risk of PD associated with increasing levels of serum total cholesterol was present both in subjects aged 25–44 years and in subjects aged 45–54 years at baseline, and in never smokers and smokers; however, no association was found among subjects aged 55 years or older at baseline.

Conclusion: This large prospective study suggests that high total cholesterol at baseline is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson disease.

GLOSSARY: AD = Alzheimer disease; BMI = body mass index; HR = hazard ratio; MONICA = Monitoring Trends and Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease; PD = Parkinson disease; WHO = World Health Organization.

e-Pub ahead of print on April 9, 2008, at www.neurology.org.

Supported by grants from the Finnish Academy (108297 and 119681), the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, the Finnish Parkinson Foundation, and Special Research Funds of the Social Welfare and Health Board, City of Oulu.

Disclosure: The authors report no disclosures.

Received August 5, 2007. Accepted in final form February 13, 2008.

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