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Parkinson's disease mortality among male anesthesiologists and internists

Chava Peretz1, Bruce H Alexander, Sonia I Nagahama

  • 1Sackler Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Professionals, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Movement Disorders : Official Journal of the Movement Disorder Society
|August 4, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Parkinson's disease (PD) mortality was studied in anesthesiologists and internists. Anesthesiologists showed higher PD mortality, suggesting potential links to infectious agents or anesthetic gases.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Epidemiology
  • Occupational Health

Background:

  • Clusters of Parkinson's disease (PD) suggest infectious causes.
  • Anesthetic gases are linked to parkinsonism and PD in patients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate PD mortality in male U.S. anesthesiologists and internal medicine physicians.
  • Examine the association between anesthetic exposure and PD risk.

Main Methods:

  • Compared PD mortality rates between large cohorts of anesthesiologists (n=33,040) and internists (n=33,044).
  • Analyzed PD mortality from death certificates for underlying cause and any mention.

Main Results:

  • Overall PD mortality was lower than U.S. men for both groups (1979-1995).
  • Anesthesiologists had significantly elevated PD mortality as underlying cause for 10-year follow-up.
  • Excess PD mortality (any mention and underlying cause) observed in anesthesiologists for >10-year follow-up.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support the hypothesis linking infectious agents or anesthetic gases to PD etiology.
  • Occupational exposure in anesthesiology may increase Parkinson's disease risk.

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