This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: To study associations between viral hepatitis and Parkinson disease (PD).
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was done by analyzing linked English National Hospital Episode Statistics and mortality data (1999–2011). Cohorts of individuals with hepatitis B, hepatitis C, autoimmune hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis, and HIV were constructed, and compared to a reference cohort for subsequent rates of PD.
Results: The standardized rate ratio (RR) of PD following hepatitis B was 1.76 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28–2.37) (p < 0.001), based on 44 observed compared with 25 expected cases. The RR of PD following hepatitis C was 1.51 (95% CI, 1.18–1.9) (p < 0.001), based on 48.5 expected and 73 observed cases. There was no significant association between autoimmune hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis or HIV, and subsequent PD. When including only those episodes of care for PD that occurred first at least 1 year following each exposure condition, the RR for hepatitis B and hepatitis C were 1.82 (1.29–2.5) and 1.43 (1.09–1.84), respectively.
Conclusions: We report strong evidence in favor of an elevation of rates of subsequent PD in patients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C. These findings may be explained by factors peculiar to viral hepatitis, but whether it reflects consequences of infection, shared disease mechanisms, or the result of antiviral treatment remains to be elucidated. Further work is needed to confirm this association and to investigate pathophysiologic pathways, potentially advancing etiologic understanding of PD more broadly.
GLOSSARY
- CI=
- confidence interval;
- HCV=
- hepatitis C virus;
- HES=
- English National Hospital Episode Statistics;
- ICD-10=
- International Classification of Diseases–10;
- PD=
- Parkinson disease;
- RR=
- rate ratio
Footnotes
↵* These authors contributed equally to this work.
Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Editorial, page 1596
- Received June 29, 2016.
- Accepted in final form January 25, 2017.
- © 2017 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members: Sign in with your AAN member credentials (e-mail or 6-digit Member ID number)
Non-AAN Member subscribers: Sign in with subscriber credentials
Log in using your username and password
Purchase access
Disputes & Debates: Rapid online correspondence
NOTE: All authors' disclosures must be entered and current in our database before comments can be posted. Enter and update disclosures at http://submit.neurology.org. Exception: replies to comments concerning an article you originally authored do not require updated disclosures.
- Stay timely. Submit only on articles published within the last 8 weeks.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- 200 words maximum.
- 5 references maximum. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- 5 authors maximum. Exception: replies can include all original authors of the article.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.