Pesticide-induced gene mutations and Parkinson disease risk: a meta-analysis

Increasing scientific evidence suggests that pesticide-induced gene mutations may contribute to increasing susceptibility to Parkinson disease (PD), but many existing studies have yielded inconclusive results. This meta-analysis aims at assessing the exact roles of pesticide-induced gene mutations in the development of PD.

An extensive literature search for relevant studies was conducted on PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and CBM databases from their inception through May 1st, 2013. This meta-analysis was performed using the STATA 12.0 software. The crude odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated.

Ten case-control studies were included with a total of 1248 PD patients and 1831 healthy controls. Our meta-analysis revealed that PD patients with pesticide exposure had higher gene mutation rates than those of healthy controls. Subgroup analysis by gene type indicated that the mutation rates in the GSTP1, SLC6A3, and MDR1 genes of PD patients with pesticide exposure were higher than those of healthy controls. No publication bias was detected in this meta-analysis.

The current meta-analysis indicates that pesticide-induced gene mutations may contribute to increasing susceptibility to PD, especially in the GSTP1, SLC6A3, and MDR1 genes.