Patients who have metabolic syndrome are more susceptible to Parkinson’s disease, according to research done by Korea University Guro Hospital (KUGH).

Professors Choi Kyung-mook (left) and Kim Sun-mi

People with metabolic syndrome tend to have a clustering of at least three of the five medical conditions -- abdominal obesity, hyperglycemia, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, and low HDL cholesterol.

The research team, led by Professors Kim Sun-mi and Choi Kyung-mook at the hospital, concluded so after observing 17.16 million adults aged 40 years or older, who underwent medical examination provided by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) from 2009 to 2012, for an average of five years.

Of the total subjects, 34.1 percent, or 5.84 million, had metabolic syndrome, and 442,452 of them developed Parkinson's disease during the follow-up period. The incidence of Parkinson’s disease in the metabolic syndrome group was 0.75 per 1,000 people, 2.2 times higher than that of the non-metabolic syndrome group’s 0.34 per 1000 people.

Even when all other risk factors are taken in, such as age, sex, exercise, drinking and smoking, patients with metabolic syndrome still had 24 percent more occurrences of Parkinson's disease.

The team found that all elements of the metabolic syndrome increased the incidence of Parkinson's disease. Even if the patient had a component of metabolic syndrome, it increased the risk of Parkinson's disease. The risk factor increased alongside with the increase in metabolic syndrome elements.

“Although there have been various studies abroad that studied the relationship between the metabolic syndrome and the onset of Parkinson's disease, this is the first research in the world to discover the relationship between the two illnesses through a large-scale big data of 17.16 million people,” Professor Kim said.

As each of the metabolic syndrome factors is a risk factor, there is a need to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome as it can increase the incidences of Parkinson's disease, Kim added.

The team’s research results were published in a peer-reviewed open access journal called PLOS Medicine.

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