Patients with rosacea appeared to have increased risk of new-onset Parkinson disease (PD) compared with individuals in the general Danish population, but further studies are needed to confirm this observation and the clinical consequences, according to a report published online in JAMA Neurology (Mar. 21, 2016).
During the study the investigators examined the risk of new-onset PD in patients with rosacea by analyzing Danish population data, which included 5.4 million individuals.
Data showed that of the 5.4 million individuals, 22,387 were diagnosed with PD and 68,053 were registered as having rosacea.
The lead author, Dr. Alexander Egeberg from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and coauthors reported that findings from their study showed that the incidence rates of PD were 3.54 per 10,000 person-years in the population and 7.62 per 10,000 person-years in patients with rosacea. The authors also found that PD appeared to occur about 2.4 years earlier in patients with rosacea.
Additional findings reported by the researchers suggested that patients who filled prescriptions for tetracyclines appeared to have a slightly decreased risk of PD, regardless of the presence of rosacea.
While the authors hypothesized about a possible pathogenic link between rosacea and PD, they note the basis for that link is unknown and that other factors could contribute to the association. The authors make clear their study cannot prove causation and that the Danish population, which is primarily of Northern European descent, may limit extrapolating the results to other ethnicities.
“Further studies are needed to confirm this observation and its clinical consequences,” the authors conclude.
Editorial source: JAMA Neurology