People over 50 with anxiety may be up to twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease as their peers without anxiety, and are more inclined to be men in the upper socio-economic group, suggests a recent analysis.
The study, looking at primary care data from the United Kingdom, compared 109 435 people over 50 who were diagnosed with a first episode of anxiety between 2008 and 2018, with a control group of 987 691 people without anxiety.
The Washington Post reports that of those in the study, 331 patients with an anxiety diagnosis developed Parkinson’s over the decade: the average patient who developed the disease did so 4.9 years after their first anxiety diagnosis.
After adjusting for age, lifestyle factors, mental illness and other factors, people with anxiety were still twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those without an anxiety diagnosis.
Other factors were associated with developing Parkinson’s disease, wrote the study authors: those who had depression, sleep disturbances, fatigue, cognitive impairment, low blood pressure, tremor, rigidity, balance impairment or constipation were likelier to develop the condition, but those with dizziness, shoulder pain and urinary and erectile problems were less likely.
“Anxiety is not as well researched as other early indicators of Parkinson’s,” said Anette Schrag, a professor of clinical neurosciences at England’s UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and co-leader of the study, which was published in the British Journal of General Practice.
Further research should home in on anxiety, she added, in the hopes of learning how to better treat the disease in its earliest stages.
Parkinson’s is the second-most common neurodegenerative disorder in the United States and affects up to 1m Americans, though counts vary and misdiagnosis is common.
The disease is most commonly diagnosed in those 60 and older, but up to 10% of people are diagnosed before 50, and early signs can go unnoticed.
Study details
Risk of Parkinson’s disease in people aged ≥50 years with new-onset anxiety: a retrospective cohort study in UK primary care
Juan Carlos Bazo-Alvarez, Danielle Nimmons, Kate Walters, Irene Petersen and Anette Schrag
Published in the British Journal of General Practice on 1 July 2024
Abstract
Background
A history of anxiety is more common in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The prospective risk of PD in those newly presenting with anxiety and factors that increase the risk of PD in patients with anxiety have not been investigated.
Aim
To investigate the incidence of PD in people with anxiety aged ≥50 years and clinical features associated with later diagnosis of PD in people with anxiety.
Design and setting
A retrospective cohort study using UK primary care data between 2008 and 2018, assessing patients with new-onset anxiety aged ≥50 years.
Method
Weibull survival regression models were fitted and hazard ratios (HRs) for modelling time-to-PD was estimated in those with and without anxiety, and when determining the risk of developing PD in those with anxiety. Results were adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, and relevant physical and mental health conditions.
Results
The risk of PD increased two-fold compared with the non-anxiety group after adjustment for age, sex, social deprivation, lifestyle factors, severe mental illness, head trauma, and dementia (HR 2.1, 95% confidence interval = 1.9 to 2.4). In those with anxiety, the presence of depression, hypotension, tremor, rigidity, balance impairment, constipation, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and cognitive impairment were associated with an increased risk of developing PD.
Conclusion
The risk of developing PD was at least doubled in people with anxiety compared with those without. The clinical features of those who developed PD can help identify patients presenting with anxiety who are in the prodromal phase of PD.
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