Comorbidities and Complications in Parkinson's Disease in Primary Care

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with an increased rate of mortality. It is unclear whether this is due to complications and comorbidities associated with the disease or the disease process of PD itself.

We undertook a cohort study in patients with PD in an electronic primary care record database. Mortality rate ratios and risk differences per 1000 person-years were calculated for each complication and comorbidity using multivariable Poisson regression analysis.

There were 10,104 patients with incident PD and 55,664 controls. The rate of falls, dementia, hallucinations, postural hypotension, stroke, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, gastrointestinal and urinary disorders, headaches, epilepsy, and myocardial infarction was higher in individuals with PD compared to controls. Conversely, the rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, and gout were lower. In the PD group, the comorbidities of dementia, falls, stroke, cancer, chronic heart failure, COPD, myocardial infarction, and gastrointestinal disorders were associated with higher mortality rates. However, for all comorbidities, the increase in mortality rate was similar to or lower in the PD group compared to people without PD, except for falls which tended to be associated with higher mortality in the PD group.

This study provides data on the increased rate of mortality associated with different complications and comorbidities in PD. The mortality associated with these alone, however, does not explain the increased mortality in PD. This underscores the need for treatments to slow the underlying disease process.