title: Reduced risk of Parkinson's disease associated with lower body mass index and heavy leisure-time physical activity.
abstract: The risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD) are not well established. We therefore examined the prediction of various lifestyle factors on the incidence of PD in a cohort drawn from the Finnish Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey, conducted in 1973-1976. The study population comprised 6,715 men and women aged 50-79 years and free of PD at the baseline. All of the subjects completed a baseline health examination (including height and weight measurements) and a questionnaire providing information on leisure-time physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. During a 22-year follow-up, 101 incident cases of PD occurred. The statistical analyses were based on Cox's model including age, sex, education, community density, occupation, coffee consumption, body mass index (BMI), leisure-time physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption as independent variables. At first, BMI was not associated with PD risk, but after exclusion of the first 15 years of follow-up, an elevated risk appeared at higher BMI levels (P for trend 0.02). Furthermore, subjects with heavy leisure-time physical activity had a lower PD risk than those with no activity [relative risk (RR) 0.27, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.08-0.90]. In variance with findings for other chronic diseases, current smokers had a lower PD risk than those who had never smoked (RR 0.23, 95 % CI 0.08-0.67), and individuals with moderate alcohol intake (at the level of <5 g/day) had an elevated PD risk compared to non-drinkers. The results support the hypothesis that lifestyle factors predict the occurrence of Parkinson's disease, but more research is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Functional Capacity and Welfare, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, 00271, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Katri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sääksjärvi
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Knekt
authors.forename: Satu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Männistö
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lyytinen
authors.forename: Tuija
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jääskeläinen
authors.forename: Noora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanerva
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heliövaara
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003069:Coffee; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D003069:Coffee