Osteoporosis and the risk of Parkinson's disease: A nationwide propensity score-matched longitudinal follow-up study.

CONTEXT: Osteoporosis and Parkinson's (PD) disease often co-occur, and even patients with early-stage PD may have reduced bone-mineral density levels. This may imply that osteoporosis is associated with a higher risk of PD.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether patients with osteoporosis are at a higher risk of subsequently developing PD.

DESIGN, SETTING: A retrospective cohort study using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 23,495 subjects who were aged between 50 and 80 and had osteoporosis between 2002 and 2006 were enrolled in the osteoporosis group. The comparison group comprised 23,495 propensity score-matched patients without osteoporosis. Their propensity scores were computed using a logistic regression model that included age, sex, comorbid conditions, and socioeconomic status.

RESULTS: The hazard ratio (HR) of PD for the osteoporosis group was 1.31 times larger than that of the comparison group (95% CI: 1.13-1.50, p=0.0002). The PD-free survival rate of the osteoporosis group was also significantly lower than that of the comparison group (p=0.0004). The analyses stratified by sex showed that women with osteoporosis appeared to have a higher magnitude of PD HR (HR 1.50, 95% CI: 1.27-1.77, p<0.0001) than their male counterparts (HR 1.23, 95% CI: 0.93-1.64, p=0.15).

CONCLUSIONS: The present study's results suggest that osteoporosis is related to an increased risk of PD, especially among women.