Chronic musculoskeletal pain independently linked to incidence of Parkinson's disease: Study

A new study published in the journal of Movement Disorders showed that Parkinson's disease (PD) was found to be independently linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain, indicating that chronic pain may be a useful indicator of PD risk. An estimated 40% to 83% of people with Parkinson's disease experience pain, which is a significant non-motor symptom. Any stage of Parkinson's disease (PD), including before a clinical diagnosis, can cause pain, which has a negative impact on the patients' quality of life (QoL).

For 40% to 90% of PD patients, musculoskeletal discomfort is the source of their pain. Few studies have looked at the clinical traits and other elements linked to MSP. Thus, Fatemeh Vazirian and colleagues carried out this study to examine the relationships between incident risk of 3 neurodegenerative parkinsonian categories as PD, multiple system atrophy, and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and chronic pain.

This study comprised a total of 355,890 adults from a population-based cohort who did not have parkinsonism at baseline (mean [standard deviation] age, 56.51 [8.07] years, 48.40% male). Hip, back, neck/shoulder, knee, or "all over the body" musculoskeletal discomfort was evaluated. If pain persisted for more than 3 months, it was considered chronic.

4 groups of participants were created where the ones who did not have chronic pain, the ones who had pain at 1 or 2, 3 or 4 places, and the ones who had pain "all over the body." Hospital data, mortality registries, and self-reports were utilized to diagnose PD, MSA, and PSP. For the analysis, multivariable-adjusted Cox regression was used.

A total of 2044 patients acquired PD, 77 people got MSA, and 126 persons developed PSP after a median follow-up of 13.0 years. The total number of chronic pain areas and incident risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) showed a dose-response association in multivariable analysis.

Individuals who had one or two pain sites were 11% more likely to acquire Parkinson's disease (PD), whereas those who experienced 3 or 4 pain sites were 49% more likely to do so. Chronic pain did not correlate with either MSA or PSP.

Overall, 13-year follow-up research revealed an independent link between chronic musculoskeletal pain and Parkinson's disease. In participants with one or two pain sites, the incidence of Parkinson's disease increased by 11%, rising to 49% in the ones with 3 or 4 pain sites.

Source:

Vazirian, F., Tian, J., Jane Alty, Aitken, D., Callisaya, M. L., Cicuttini, F., Jones, G., & Pan, F. (2024). Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Risk of Incident Parkinson’s Disease: A 13‐Year Longitudinal Study. In Movement Disorders. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.30046