Heart attack survivors may be less likely to develop Parkinson's disease


Date:
February 16, 2022
Source:
American Heart Association
Summary:
People who have had a heart attack are at increased risk of stroke
and vascular dementia; however, a new study found they may be
less likely to develop Parkinson's disease. A large, nationwide
study in Denmark found that the risk of Parkinson's disease was
moderately lower among people who have had a heart attack than
among the general population.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== People who have had a heart attack may be slightly less likely than people
in the general population to develop Parkinson's disease later in life, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American
Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American
Heart Association.


========================================================================== Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder characterized by progressive
loss of physical movement, including tremors, slow or slurred speech,
and/or stiffness or limited range of motion for walking and other
physical activities. There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, and
it is also associated with behavioral changes, depression, memory
loss and fatigue. Secondary parkinsonism, which has symptoms similar
to Parkinson's disease, may be caused by stroke, psychiatric or
cardiovascular medications, or other illness.

"We have previously found that following a heart attack, the risk of neurovascular complications such as ischemic stroke [clot-caused stroke]
or vascular dementia is markedly increased, so the finding of a lower
risk of Parkinson's disease was somewhat surprising," said lead study
author Jens Sundbo/ll, M.D., Ph.D., from the departments of clinical epidemiology and cardiology at the Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark. "These findings indicate that the risk of Parkinson's disease
is at least not increased following a heart attack and should not be a
worry for patients or a preventive focus for clinicians at follow-up.

"It is not known whether this inverse relationship with risk
of Parkinson's disease extends to people who have had a heart
attack. Therefore, we examined the long-term risk of Parkinson's disease
and secondary parkinsonism among heart attack survivors," Sundbo/ll said.

The researchers examined health registries from the Danish National Health Service. They compared the risk of Parkinson's disease and secondary parkinsonism among about 182,000 patients who had a first-time heart
attack between 1995 and 2016 (average age 71 years old; 62% male) and
more than 909,000 controls matched for age, sex and year of heart attack diagnosis. The results were adjusted for a variety of factors known to influence the risk of either heart attack or Parkinson's disease.

Over a maximum continual follow-up of 21 years, after adjusting for a
wide range of potential confounding factors, the analysis found that,
when compared to the control group:
* there was a 20% lower risk of Parkinson's disease among people
who had a
heart attack; and
* a 28% lower risk of secondary parkinsonism among those who had
a heart
attack.

"For physicians treating patients following a heart attack, these results indicate that cardiac rehabilitation should be focused on preventing
ischemic stroke, vascular dementia and other cardiovascular diseases such
as a new heart attack and heart failure, since the risk of Parkinson's
appears to be decreased in these patients, in comparison to the general population," Sundbo/ll said.



========================================================================== Heart attack and Parkinson's disease share certain risk factors, with
higher risk found among elderly men and lower risk among people who drink
more coffee and are more physically active. Interestingly, however,
some classic risk factors for a heart attack -- such as smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes -- are associated
with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease.

In general, more heart attack patients smoke and have elevated
cholesterol, either of which may explain the slightly reduced risk of Parkinson's disease among heart attack survivors.

"There are very few diseases in this world in which smoking
decreases risk: Parkinson's disease is one, and ulcerative colitis is
another. Smoking increases the risk of the most common diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and pulmonary disease and is definitely
not good for your health," Sundbo/ll noted.

One limitation of the study is that there was not enough information
about smoking and high cholesterol levels among the participants, which
may have influenced the findings. In addition, the study population
was vastly of white race/ethnicity, according to Sundbo/ll, therefore,
the findings may not be generalizable to people from diverse racial or
ethnic groups.

Co-authors are Szimonetta Komja'thine' Sze'pligeti, M.Sc.; Pe'ter
Szentku'ti, M.Sc.; Kasper Adelborg, M.D., Ph.D.; Erzse'bet Horva'th-Puho', M.Sc., Ph.D.; Lars Pedersen, Ph.D.; Victor W. Henderson, M.D., M.S.;
and Henrik Toft So/ rensen, M.D., Ph.D., D.M.Sc.

The study was funded by the Lundbeck Foundation.

special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Heart_Association. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jens Sundbo/ll, Szimonetta Komja'thine' Sze'pligeti, Pe'ter
Szentku'ti,
Kasper Adelborg, Erzse'bet Horva'th‐Puho', Lars Pedersen,
Victor W.

Henderson, Henrik Toft So/rensen. Risk of Parkinson
Disease and Secondary Parkinsonism in Myocardial Infarction
Survivors. Journal of the American Heart Association, 2022; DOI:
10.1161/JAHA.121.022768 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220216083011.htm

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