Risk factors for Parkinson's disease may differ in men and women: an exploratory study

Although several environmental and genetic risk or protective factors have been associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), their interactions overall and in men and women separately remain unknown. We used the medical records-linkage system of the Rochester Epidemiology Project to identify 196 subjects who developed PD in Olmsted County, MN, from 1976 through 1995. Each incident case was matched by age (±1 year) and sex to a general population control. We considered the following 12 risk or protective factors: personal history of head trauma, pesticide use, immunologic diseases, anemia, hysterectomy (in women only), cigarette smoking, coffee consumption, and education; and family history of parkinsonism, essential tremor, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. We used recursive partitioning analyses to explore interactions overall and in men and women separately and used logistic regression analyses to test for interactions. In the overall group, we observed the independent effects of anemia, lack of coffee consumption (never vs. ever), and head trauma; however, the findings were different in men and women. In men, we observed the independent effects of lack of coffee consumption (never vs. ever), head trauma, and pesticide use, and a suggestive synergistic interaction between immunologic diseases and family history of dementia. By contrast, in women, anemia was the most important factor and we observed a suggestive synergistic interaction between anemia and higher education. Risk factors for PD and their interactions may differ in men and women.