Air Pollution and Parkinson Disease in a Population-Based Study

The role of air pollution in risk and progression of Parkinson disease (PD) is unclear.

To assess whether air pollution is associated with increased risk of PD and clinical characteristics of PD.

This population-based case-control study included patients with PD and matched controls from the Rochester Epidemiology Project from 1998 to 2015. Data were analyzed from January to June 2024.

Mean annual exposure to particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 µm or less (PM2.5) from 1998 to 2015 and mean annual exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from 2000 to 2014.

Outcomes of interest were PD risk, all-cause mortality, presence of tremor-predominant vs akinetic rigid PD, and development of dyskinesia. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, year of index, and urban vs rural residence.

A total of 346 patients with PD (median [IQR] age 72 [65-80] years; 216 [62.4%] male) were identified and matched on age and sex with 4813 controls (median [IQR] age, 72 [65-79] years, 2946 [61.2%] male). Greater PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased PD risk, and this risk was greatest after restricting to populations within metropolitan cores (odds ratio [OR], 1.23; 95% CI, 1.11-1.35) for the top quintile of PM2.5 exposure compared with the bottom quintile. Greater NO2 exposure was also associated with increased PD risk when comparing the top quintile with the bottom quintile (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.07-1.19). Air pollution was associated with a 36% increased risk of akinetic rigid presentation (OR per each 1-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.80). In analyses among patients with PD only, higher PM2.5 exposure was associated with greater risk for developing dyskinesia (HR per 1-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.17-1.73), as was increased NO2 exposure (HR per 1 μg/m3 increase in NO2, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.06-1.19). There was no association between PM2.5 and all-cause mortality among patients with PD.

In this case-control study of air pollution and PD, higher levels of PM2.5 and NO2 exposure were associated with increased risk of PD; also, higher levels of PM2.5 exposure were associated with increased risk of developing akinetic rigid PD and dyskinesia compared with patients with PD exposed to lower levels. These findings suggest that reducing air pollution may reduce risk of PD, modify the PD phenotype, and reduce risk of dyskinesia.