Higher risk of Parkinson disease in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the risk of Parkinson disease (PD) in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) using a nationwide, population-based cohort during a 15-year follow-up period. METHOD: We identified 17,028 patients with pSS by using the catastrophic illness registry in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, and 68,094 matched non-pSS controls. RESULTS: The pSS cohort showed a higher incidence of PD development than did the non-pSS cohort (1.60% vs. 1.17%, p = 0.0001). The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of developing PD was 1.23 times greater in the pSS group than in the non-pSS group. When stratified by sex, age, and comorbidities, the female patients with pSS and patients aged between 61 and 70 years were associated with a higher PD risk (aHR 1.28 and aHR 1.30, respectively). Patients with pSS with no other comorbidity had a higher risk of PD (aHR: 2.17), compared with the non-pSS patients with no other comorbidity. When comparing non-pSS patients without or with comorbidity with pSS without or with comorbidity, pSS patients with comorbidity had highest risk of PD (aHR: 3.814). CONCLUSIONS: All of the above findings suggested that pSS is an independent risk factor for the development of PD.Key Points*The patients with pSS had 1.23 times risk of Parkinson disease than the non-pSS group.*The female patients with pSS and patients aged between 61 and 70 years were associated with a higher PD risk (aHR 1.28 and aHR 1.30, respectively).*The pSS patients with comorbidity had highest risk of PD (aHR: 3.814).