Risk of Parkinson Disease and Secondary Parkinsonism in Myocardial Infarction Survivors

Background In addition to primary neurodegenerative processes, vascular disorders, such as stroke, can lead to parkinsonism. However, some cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking and elevated cholesterol levels, are associated with reduced risk of Parkinson disease. We examined the risk of Parkinson disease and secondary parkinsonism in 1-year survivors of myocardial infarction (MI). Methods and Results We conducted a nationwide population-based matched cohort study using Danish medical registries from 1995 to 2016. We identified all patients with a first-time MI diagnosis and sampled a sex-, age-, and calendar year-matched general population comparison cohort without MI. Cox regression analysis was used to compute adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for Parkinson disease and secondary parkinsonism, controlled for matching factors and adjusted for relevant comorbidities and socioeconomic factors. We identified 181 994 patients with MI and 909 970 matched comparison cohort members (median age, 71 years; 62% men). After 21 years of follow-up, the cumulative incidence was 0.9% for Parkinson disease and 0.1% for secondary parkinsonism in the MI cohort. Compared with the general population cohort, MI was associated with a decreased risk of Parkinson disease (aHR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.73-0.87) and secondary parkinsonism (aHR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.54-0.94). Conclusions MI was associated with a 20% decreased risk of Parkinson disease and 28% decreased risk of secondary parkinsonism. Reduced risk may reflect an inverse relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and Parkinson disease.