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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate whether serum triglycerides (S-TG), cholesterol, blood pressure and waist/height ratio are risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A population-based sample within the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS) was used in this study (n = 101 790 subjects). Cases with PD were identified prospectively in a community-based study of idiopathic Parkinsonism in the period 2004-2009 in the county of Vasterbotten in northern Sweden. The case database obtained was crosslinked to the NSHDS. Eighty-four of 147 patients with PD had visited the primary health care 2-8 years before diagnosis for participation in the NSHDS. For each case, four referents from the NSHDS population were selected, matched for sex, age, year of health survey, subcohort and geographic area.

RESULTS: Cases had lower mean S-TG levels (P = 0.007). After stratification for sex, the lower S-TG remained significant for men (P = 0.006) but not for women (P = 0.450), and these were confirmed by the conditional logistic regression for all cases, none adjusted (hazard ratio (HR): 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42, 0.99) and after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity (HR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.96). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was negatively associated with PD risk after adjustments for age, BMI and physical activity (HR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.97-0.99). Smoking and former smoking were associated with a reduced risk for PD.

CONCLUSIONS: We found lower S-TG and SBP 2-8 years before a diagnosis of PD. Smoking was confirmed to be negatively associated with PD, whereas recreational activity indicates a risk for women.