Parkinson's disease among patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Bottom Line: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease appeared more likely than patients without the disorder to develop Parkinson disease, while anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy for inflammatory bowel disease was associated with reduced incidence of Parkinson in a new study that analyzed administrative claims data for more than 170 million patients.

Why The Research Is Interesting: Inflammation is a potential biological trigger shared by both inflammatory bowel and Parkinson diseases. The role of reduced inflammation through anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy for Parkinson disease is mostly unknown.

Authors: Inga Peter, Ph.D., of the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and coauthors

Study Design: This was an observational study. Researchers were not intervening for purposes of the study and they cannot control natural differences that could explain study findings.

Related Material: The editorial, "Discovering New Benefits From Old Drugs with Big Data - Promise for Parkinson Disease," by Clemens R. Scherzer, M.D., of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and coauthors also is available on the For The Media website.

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To Learn More: The full study is available on the For The Media website.

(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.0605)

Editor's Note: The article contains conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.