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. 2024;14(6):1265-1269.
doi: 10.3233/JPD-240098.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Risk of Parkinson's Disease in a Veteran Cohort

Frances M Weaver  1   2 , Lishan Cao  1 , Kevin T Stroupe  1   2 , Beverly Gonzalez  3 , Ethan Brown  4 , Kalea Colletta  5 , Caroline M Tanner  4   6 , Samuel M Goldman  7   6
Affiliations

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Risk of Parkinson's Disease in a Veteran Cohort

Frances M Weaver et al. J Parkinsons Dis. 2024.

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be a risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD). We examined the relation between PTSD and PD in a cohort of 158,122 Veterans who had any Veterans Health Administration (VHA) or Medicare health care utilization between 10/1/1999- 2/17/2021. Using a nested case-control design we matched 10 controls to each Veteran with PD by sex, race, and rank. In conditional logistic regression models adjusted for camp and smoking, a PTSD diagnosis was significantly associated with PD (OR = 1.35; p = 0.0002); odds were higher if PTSD was coded before PD (OR = 1.53, p < 0.0001). PTSD may be a risk factor for PD.

Keywords: PTSD; Parkinson’s disease; Veterans; epidemiology; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Brown reported receiving grants from the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the National Institute on Aging and personal fees from Gateway Consulting, LLC, outside the submitted work. Dr. Tanner reported receiving personal fees from Lundbeck Pharma, CNS Ratings, Adamas, Cadent, and Evidera; serving on advisory boards for Kyowa Kirin, Acorda, Australia Parkinson’s Mission; serving on a clinical trial steering committee for Jazz Pharmaceuticals/Cavion; and receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health, Biogen Idec, Parkinson Foundation, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Department of Defense Parkinson’s Research Program, Roche, Genentech, BioElectron, and Gateway Institute for Brain Research, LLC, outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

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