Sunday 14 June 2015

Vagotomy and subsequent risk of Parkinson's disease

Novel approach and interesting...however virtually all the confidence intervals cross the point of unity even if the trend fits with a protective effect...

Ann Neurol. 2015 May 29. doi: 10.1002/ana.24448. [Epub ahead of print]
Svensson E, Horváth-Puhó E, Thomsen RW, Djurhuus JC, Pedersen L, Borghammer P, Sørensen HT.


OBJECTIVES:
Parkinson's disease (PD) may be caused by an enteric neurotropic pathogen entering the brain through the vagal nerve, a process that may take over 20 years. We investigated the risk of PD in patients who underwent vagotomy, and hypothesized that truncal vagotomy is associated with a protective effect, while super-selective vagotomy has a minor effect.

METHODS:
We constructed cohorts of all patients in Denmark who underwent vagotomy during 1977-1995 and a matched general population cohort, by linking Danish registries. We used Cox regression to compute hazard ratios (HRs) for PD and corresponding 95% confidence intervals [CIs], adjusting for potential confounders.

RESULTS:
Risk of PD was decreased in patients who underwent truncal [HR = 0.85, 95% CI= 0.56-1.27; follow-up of >20 years: HR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.28-1.20] compared to super-selective vagotomy. Risk of PD was also decreased following truncal vagotomy when compared to the general population cohort [overall adjusted HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.63-1.14; follow-up >20 years, adjusted HR = 0.53 [95% CI: 0.28-0.99]. In patients who underwent super-selective vagotomy, risk of PD was similar to the general population [HR = 1.09, 95% CI: 0.84-1.43; follow-up of >20 years: HR = 1.16, 95% CI: 0.80-1.70]. The statistical precision of the risk estimates was limited. Results were consistent after external adjustment for unmeasured confounding by smoking.

INTERPRETATION:

Full truncal vagotomy is associated with a decreased risk for subsequent PD, suggesting that the vagal nerve may be critically involved in the pathogenesis of PD. 


2 comments:

  1. Parkinson's disease genetic testing can help to predict the possibility and risk factors of Parkinson's disease. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Parkinson's disease is a long-term degenerative disease of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system of human body. The symptoms generally come on slowly over time. Affected person should take stem cell parkinson's disease treatment

    ReplyDelete

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