Association of High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and the Risk of Developing Parkinson Disease

In a recent study published in Neurology, the authors of the study investigated the longitudinal association among high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level, HDL-C variability, and the risk of developing Parkinson disease (PD).

They conducted a nationwide, population-based cohort study. They included 382,391 patients aged ≥65 years who underwent at least 3 health examinations provided by the Korean National Health Insurance System from 2008 to 2013 and followed up until 2017. Individuals with a history of PD and missing values were excluded (n = 1,987). They assessed HDL-C variability using 3 indices, including variability independent of the mean (VIM). A multivariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed.

Among the 380,404 participants, 2,733 individuals were newly diagnosed with PD during a median follow-up period of 5 years. The lowest quartile (Q1) group of baseline HDL-C and mean HDL-C was associated with increased PD incidence as compared with the highest quartile (Q4) group (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.34; and aHR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04-1.30, respectively). The Q4 group of HDL-C variability (VIM) was associated with increased PD incidence compared to the Q1 group (aHR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.06-1.33). The group with the Q1 of baseline HDL-C and with the Q4 of HDL-C variability had the highest risk of PD incidence (aHR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.31-1.96).

Lower HDL-C level and greater HDL-C variability were associated with a higher incidence of PD.