Premium
Increased risk of brain tumor in patients with Parkinson's disease: a nationwide cohort study in Taiwan
Author(s) -
Tang C.F.,
Lu M.K.,
Muo C.H.,
Tsai C.H.,
Kao C.H.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/ane.12524
Subject(s) - medicine , hazard ratio , brain tumor , cohort , confidence interval , proportional hazards model , population , cohort study , parkinson's disease , disease , oncology , pathology , environmental health
Objectives Parkinson's disease ( PD ) is a neurodegenerative disease. A decreased risk of cancer, except for melanoma, has been observed in patients with PD . The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between brain tumor and PD in a Taiwanese population. Materials and methods We used data from the National Health Insurance program of Taiwan. The PD cohort contained 2998 patients, and each patient was frequency‐matched, based on age and sex, with 4 people without PD , who were randomly selected from the general population. Cox's proportional hazard regression analysis was conducted to estimate the effects of PD on the risk of brain tumor. Results The risk of developing brain tumor was significantly higher in patients with PD than in those without PD (adjusted hazard ratio = 2.11; 95% confidence interval ( CI ) = 1.24–3.59), and benign brain tumor exhibited a particularly elevated risk of 2.16‐fold (95% CI = 1.26–3.68). The hazard ratio ( HR ) for developing a benign brain tumor was higher in female patients with PD than in female patients without PD , with the risk being 2.65‐fold (95% CI = 1.30–5.43). An analysis of the two age groups, 50–64 years and ≥65 years, showed that the HR of only the 50–64‐year group was significantly higher between the PD and non‐ PD groups ( HR = 2.77, 95% CI = 1.07–7.14). Conclusion The present study showed that Taiwanese patients with PD are at a higher risk of developing brain tumor than the general population. The exact underlying etiologies require further investigation.