The association between antihypertensive therapy and the incidence of Parkinson’s disease in patients followed in general practices in Germany

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the potential association between antihypertensive therapy and the incidence of Parkinson's disease (PD) in patients followed in general practices in Germany. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included patients aged ≥ 40 who had received initial diagnoses of PD in 1,203 general practices in Germany between January 2013 and December 2017 (index date). After applying similar inclusion criteria, PD cases were matched to non-PD controls using propensity scores based on age, sex, and treating physician. The primary outcome of the study was the incidence of PD as a function of the use of antihypertensive drugs (diuretics, β-blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and angiotensin II receptor blockers). Logistic regression models were conducted to study the association between the use of antihypertensive drugs and the incidence of PD after adjusting for codiagnoses and antihypertensive cotherapy. RESULTS: The present study included 9,127 patients with PD and 9,127 patients without PD (mean age: 75.8 years; 48.4% women). The at-least-once use of diuretics (44.8% versus 38.4%; odds ratio (OR) = 1.23 (1.15-1.32)) was associated with an increased incidence of PD. However, this effect was not maintained for a therapy duration of at least 3 years, and no association was observed between the diuretic therapy duration and PD incidence. For all other antihypertensive drug classes, we found no significant associations with PD incidence. CONCLUSION: No association was found between antihypertensive therapy duration and PD incidence. Further epidemiological studies are needed to compare the effects of subclasses of antihypertensives on PD.