Researchers assess hospital-treated infection and risk of neurodegenerative diseases. Credit: Jiangwei Sun
Key Points:
- Researchers have published supporting evidence that infection plays a role in the development of some neurodegenerative diseases.
- In this study, multiple infections before the age of 40 showed a more than 40% chance of developing Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.
- The findings showed no association between infection and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
In a new study, Swedish researchers have linked repeated hospital care-level infections in early- and mid-life to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s disease later in life, but not amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
In the study published in PLOS Medicine, the research team used data on people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or ALS from 1970 to 2016 in Sweden, as well as five matched controls per case. Overall, the analysis included 291,941 Alzheimer’s cases, 103,919 Parkinson’s cases and 10,161 ALS cases.
According to the findings, a hospital-treated infection 5 or more years before diagnosis was associated with a 16% higher risk of Alzheimer’s and a 4% higher risk of Parkinson’s, with similar risks seen for bacterial, viral and other infections and for different sites of infection.
The highest risk of disease was seen in people with multiple hospital-treated infections before the age of 40, with more than double the risk of Alzheimer’s and more than 40% increase in the risk of Parkinson’s. No association was observed for ALS, regardless of age at diagnosis.
The scientists note the increased risk of disease occurred primarily in those diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disorders before 60 years of age.
“These findings suggest that infectious events may be a trigger or amplifier of a pre-existing disease process, leading to clinical onset of neurodegenerative disease at a relatively early age,” write the authors.
Information courtesy of PLOS.