Positive association of Parkinson’s disease with ankylosing spondylitis: a nationwide population-based study

Abstract

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is characterized by excessive production of inflammatory cytokines. Recent evidence suggests that inflammation underlies the neurodegenerative process of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Whether AS has an influence on the development of PD is unclear. We aimed to examine a relationship, if any exists between AS and PD. Methods: A population-based matched cohort study was performed using data from the 2000–2010 Taiwan National Health Insurance database. 6440 patients with AS and 25,760 randomly selected, age- and sex-matched controls were included in this study. The risk of PD in the AS cohort was evaluated by using a Cox model. Results: This study revealed a positive association between AS and the risk of PD regardless of sex and age (aHR 1.75, p