Traffic-related air pollution increased the risk of Parkinson's disease in Taiwan: A nationwide study.
Ambient air pollution has been associated with many health conditions, but little is known about its effects on neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, we investigated the influence of ambient air pollution on PD in a nationwide population-based case-control study in Taiwan.



We identified 11,117 incident PD patients between 2007 and 2009 from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database and selected 44,468 age- and gender-matched population controls from the longitudinal health insurance database. The average ambient pollutant exposure concentrations from 1998 through the onset of PD were estimated using quantile-based Bayesian Maximum Entropy models. Basing from logistic regression models, we estimated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of ambient pollutant exposures and PD risk.



We observed positive associations between NOx, CO exposures, and PD. In multi-pollutant models, for NOxand CO above the 75th percentile exposure compared with the lowest percentile, the ORs of PD were 1.37 (95% CI=1.23-1.52) and 1.17 (95% CI=1.07-1.27), respectively.



This study suggests that ambient air pollution exposure, especially from traffic-related pollutants such as NOxand CO, increases PD risk in the Taiwanese population.
Department of Health Care Management, College of Healthcare Administration and Management, National Taipei University of Nursing Health Sciences, Taiwan.
Pei-Chen
PC
Lee
Department of Health Care Management, College of Healthcare Administration and Management, National Taipei University of Nursing Health Sciences, Taiwan.
Li-Ling
LL
Liu
Department of Neurology, En Chu Kong Hospital, Sanxia District, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Yu
Y
Sun
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
Yu-An
YA
Chen
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Chih-Ching
CC
Liu
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Chung-Yi
CY
Li
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Electronic address: hlyu@ntu.edu.tw.
Hwa-Lung
HL
Yu
Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, California, USA.
Beate
B
Ritz
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D001335:Vehicle Emissions / Q000633:toxicity*
D000393:Air Pollutants; D001335:Vehicle Emissions
Ambient air pollution; Parkinson's disease