Short-term exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of hospital admissions in patients with Parkinson's disease – A multicentric study on 18 French areas

Abstract Background Recent studies have investigated the potential neurological impacts of short-term exposure to air pollutants, but with limited evidence. Objective To analyze the relationship and quantify the short-term association of air pollution (PM10, PM2.5, NO2 and ozone) and hospital admissions for Parkinson's disease (PD), in 18 French areas. Methods We modeled the daily number of PD-related hospital admissions in each area using a generalized additive Poisson regression model for the 2009–2017 period, introducing air pollutants as the main environmental variable and daily temperature as covariate. We controlled for long-term trend and seasonality. Results A small but significant influence of PM10, PM2.5 and NO2 on all-ages PD hospital admissions was observed, of a similar order of magnitude (1.010 [95% CI: 1.004; 1.016], 1.010 [1.003; 1.017], and 1.011 [1.005; 1.016] for a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM10, PM2.5 and NO2, respectively). We also found an increase in hospitalization risks, at the limit of significance, associated with ozone (1.001 [95% CI: 0.999; 1.004]). Conclusion Our results suggest a short-term association between PM, NO2, ozone and daily hospital admissions due to PD.