Associations between Lifestyle Factors and Parkinson's Disease in an Urban Sri Lankan Clinic Study

Associations between certain environmental and lifestyle factors and Parkinson's disease (PD) have been reported in several studies, but information on these factors and Parkinson's Disease (PD) in South Asia, is limited.

To determine associations between lifestyle factors and PD in an urban clinic-based study in Sri Lanka.

In this case-control study, demographic and lifestyle factor data (including diet, coffee/tea drinking, smoking, alcohol status) was collected from an unselected cohort of PD patients and age and gender-matched controls attending clinics in Greater Colombo, Sri Lanka. Associations between lifestyle factors and PD status were assessed using Logistic Regression analysis, while links with age of PD onset were explored with Kaplan Meier and Cox Regression survival analyses. Results with p<0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.

Of 229 patients with parkinsonism, 144 had Idiopathic PD using standard diagnostic criteria. Controls numbered 102. Coffee drinkers and smokers were significantly less likely to have PD (coffee, p<0.001; Odds Ratio (OR)=0.264; smoking, p=0.043; OR=0.394). Coffee drinkers were older at PD onset (p<0.001). Similar trends seen with tea drinking were not statistically significant.

This is the first formal study of PD and these lifestyle factors in South Asia. It demonstrates an inverse association between coffee drinking, smoking and PD, and an association between coffee drinking and later age of PD onset. This is in line with other studies done worldwide, suggesting biological associations with global relevance.