Inverse associations of outdoor activity and vitamin D intake with the risk of Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Early studies had suggested that vitamin D intake was inversely associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. However, the associations of vitamin D intake and outdoor activities with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are still unclear, so this study is to evaluate these relationships from a case-control study in elderly Chinese. The study population involved 209 cases with new onsets of PD and 210 controls without neurodegenerative diseases. The data on dietary vitamin D and outdoor activities were collected using a food-frequency questionnaire and self-report questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between dietary outdoor activities, vitamin D intake and PD. Adjustment was made for sex, age, smoking, alcohol use, education, and body mass index (BMI). Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for PD in quartiles for outdoor physical activity were 1 (reference), 0.739 (0.413, 1.321), 0.501 (0.282, 0.891), and 0.437 (0.241, 0.795), respectively (P=0.002 for trend). Adjusted ORs for PD in quartiles for total vitamin D intake were 1 (reference), 0.647 (0.357, 1.170), 0.571 (0.318, 1.022), and 0.538 (0.301, 0.960), respectively (P=0.011 for trend). Our study suggested that outdoor activity and total vitamin D intake were inversely associated with PD, and outdoor activity seems to be more significantly associated with decreased risk for PD.