Lifestyle-related risk factors for Parkinson's disease: a population-based study.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of major lifestyle-related risk factors with the prevalent cases of Parkinson's disease (PD) identified by the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging.


METHODS
A total of 5632 individuals randomly selected from the population registers of eight centers were screened for parkinsonism using both a questionnaire and a neurologic examination. Screened positives underwent a structured clinical work-up for the diagnosis of parkinsonism and parkinsonism subtypes.


RESULTS
We identified 113 prevalent cases of PD. Age, male gender, and pesticide-use license were significantly related to PD. Heavy smoking was inversely related to PD. Age (OR = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.06-1.15) and pesticide-use license (OR = 3.7; 95% CI, 1.6-8.6) kept their significant correlation with the disease in the multivariate analysis to adjust for all the variables under investigation. Multivariate analyses were made for men and women separately: pesticide exposure was positively associated with PD only in men.


CONCLUSIONS
Pesticide exposure might represent a candidate for environmental factors involved in PD.
Baldereschi
M
M
Institute of Neurosciences, ILSA Study, Italian National Research Council, Florence, Italy. baldereschi@area.fi.cnr.it
Di Carlo
A
A
Vanni
P
P
Ghetti
A
A
Carbonin
P
P
Amaducci
L
L
Inzitari
D
D
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking