Antiepileptic drugs tied to risk of developing Parkinson's disease: JAMA

Considering this, Belete et al. did a nested case-control study to investigate the association between certain AEDs and PD.

The critical study points are:

· The study data was collected from the UK Biobank (UKB) in 2006.

· The data extraction was done on June 30, 2021.

· Controls were matched at the ratio of 6:1 for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

· A total of 222,106 participants were eligible for the study's enrolment.

· There were 1433 individuals diagnosed with PD, and the controls were 8598.

· There were 61 % men, and 97.5 % were white.

· The median age was 71 years.

· There was an association between AED prescriptions and incident PD with an OR of 1.80

· There was a trend for more prescription issues and multiple AEDs tied with a greater risk of PD.

To conclude, the researchers said that,

This is the first study to our knowledge investigating the association between a range of antiepileptic drugs and their association with incident PD.

The study has provided further insights into the latest literature, demonstrating this association.

Further reading:

Belete D et al. Association Between Antiepileptic Drugs and Incident Parkinson Disease in the UK Biobank. JAMA Neurol. Published online December 27, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.4699