Positive association between total bilirubin and early-stage Parkinson's disease

The correlation between total bilirubin and Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear currently. This study aimed to assess the association between total bilirubin and early-stage PD.

The ultimate goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the implications of this relationship between total bilirubin and early-stage PD.

We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study involving 1631 participants which collected from 2010 to 11 December 2024 in PPMI cohort. Logistic regression, smooth curve fitting, subgroup analysis, and sensitivity analyses were employed to validate the research objectives.

The overall prevalence of PD was 81.5 % (1329/1631). Specifically, the prevalence was 78.0 % (294/377) for total bilirubin tertile 1 (T1, 3-7 μmol/L), 80.8 % (498/616) for tertile 2 (T2, 7-10 μmol/L), and 84.2 % (537/638) for tertile 3 (T3, 10-48 μmol/L), respectively (P = 0.043). Multivariate odds ratio regression adjusted for risk factors demonstrates a 5-unit increment in the total bilirubin raises the risk of early-stage PD by 1.16 times, respectively. Smooth splines analysis suggested a linear association between levels of total bilirubin and risk of early-stage PD (P nonlinearity = 0.968). Further exploratory subgroup analysis within the age, sex, BMI, and MCI groups showed that there were no significant interactions between the subgroups (all P values for interaction were >0.05). Additional sensitivity analyses supported the primary findings and indicated the conclusions are robust.

The observed association between elevated total bilirubin levels and early-stage PD risk suggests that bilirubin may serve as a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and disease monitoring.