Takeaway
Lower lymphocyte count was associated with an increased risk of subsequent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis suggested that this association may be causal.
Why this matters
Findings suggest that lower lymphocyte count, although lacking specificity as a biomarker in isolation, may enhance efforts to identify patients who are at the earliest stages of PD.
Study design
Study of 465 incident PD cases and 312,125 controls from the UK Biobank.
Association between incident PD and baseline differential leukocyte count and other blood markers of acute inflammation was evaluated.
Funding: None.
Key results
Each 1-standard deviation (SD) reduction in lymphocyte count was associated with an increased risk of incident PD (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.07-1.32).
There was some evidence that the risk of PD was increased with each 1-SD reduction in:
eosinophil count (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04-1.3);
monocyte count (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26); and
C-reactive protein (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.00-1.29).
Each 1-SD reduction in neutrophil count correlated with a lower risk of PD (OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-1.00).
The association between a lower lymphocyte count and an increased PD risk remained robust in sensitivity analyses.
Mendelian randomisation analysis suggested that each genetically estimated 1-SD reduction in lymphocyte count was associated with an increased risk of PD (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.01-1.18; P=.02).
Limitations
Risk of bias.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Sarfaroj Khan. Lower Lymphocyte Count Linked With Increased Risk of Parkinson's Disease - Medscape - Feb 08, 2021.
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