Survivors of a heart attack may be less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease

People who have a heart attack may be slightly less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease later than the general population. Journal of the American Heart AssociationAmerican Heart Association’s open access peer-reviewed journal.

Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder characterized by a gradual loss of physical activity, such as tremors, slowness and ambiguity in speech, stiffness in walking and other physical activities, and limited range of motion. There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, and it is also associated with behavioral changes, depression, memory loss, and malaise. Secondary Parkinsonism, which presents with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, can be caused by stroke, psychiatric or cardiovascular drug therapy, or other illnesses.

“We have previously discovered that: heart attackRisk of neurovascular complications such as Ischemic stroke [clot-caused stroke] also Vascular dementia Was somewhat surprising to find that the risk of Parkinson’s disease was low, “said Jens Sandbol, MD, Principal Research Author of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Cardiology at Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark. Says. “These findings show that the risk of Parkinson’s disease does not increase at least after: heart It is a seizure and should not be the patient’s concern or the clinician’s preventive focus during follow-up.

“It is unclear whether the opposite relationship with the risk of Parkinson’s disease extends to those who have had a heart attack. Therefore, we investigated the long-term risk of Parkinson’s disease and secondary Parkinson’s disease in heart attack survivors.” Said Sundbøll.

Researchers examined the health registry from the Danish National Health Service. They had about 182,000 patients who had their first heart attack between 1995 and 2016 (mean age 71 years, 62% male) and more than 909,000 control Parkinson’s age, gender, and year matches. We compared the risk of illness and secondary Parkinsonism. Diagnosis of heart attack. Results were adjusted for a variety of factors known to affect the risk of heart attack or Parkinson’s disease.

After adjusting for a wide range of potential confounders with maximum continuous follow-up for 21 years, analysis Control group:

• People who had a heart attack had a 20% lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.When
• The risk of secondary Parkinson’s syndrome is 28% lower among people who have had a heart attack.

“For physicians treating patients after a heart attack, these results indicate that cardiac rehabilitation should focus on prevention. Ischemic stroke, Vascular dementia The risk of Parkinson’s disease appears to be reduced compared to these patients, so other cardiovascular diseases such as new heart attacks and heart failure General population“Sundbøll said.

Heart attack and Parkinson’s disease share certain risk factors, which are higher in older men, drink more coffee, and are less risky in physically active people. Interestingly, however, some classic risk factors for heart attack, such as smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes, are associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease.

In general, more heart attack patients smoke and their cholesterol is elevated. Both may explain that the risk of Parkinson’s disease is slightly reduced among survivors of a heart attack.

“In this world, smoking has few illnesses that reduce the risk. Parkinson’s disease is one and ulcerative colitis is another. Smoking is the most common of cancer, cardiovascular, lung disease, etc. It increases the risk of illness and is definitely not good for you. Health, “Sundbøll said.

One limitation of the study was the lack of sufficient information on participants’ smoking and high cholesterol levels, which may have influenced the findings. In addition, according to Sundbøll, the study population was very Caucasian / ethnic, so the findings may not be generalized to people of diverse races or ethnic groups.

Co-authors are Szimonetta Komjähiné Szépligeti, M. Sc. Péter Szentkúti, M.Sc. Kasper Adelborg, MD, Ph.D. Erz sébet Horváth-Puhó, M.Sc., Ph.D. Lars Pedersen, Ph.D. Victor W. Henderson, MD, MS; Henrik Toft Sorensen, MD, Ph.D., DMSc.