Could Hepatitis C Increase the Risk of Parkinson Disease?

Patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) have a significantly increased risk of developing Parkinson disease (PD), according to a new study.

This nationwide population-based cohort study came from a dataset of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database from 2000-2010. The researchers analyzed 49967 patients with viral hepatitis and 199868 controls (no hepatitis B or C virus).
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They discovered a 2.5 fold (95% CI = 2.07-3.02) risk of PD in patients with HCV infection compared to controls. After adjusting for age, sex, and multiple comorbidities, the investigators still saw a 1.3 fold (95% CI = 1.06-1.56) risk of PD in patients having HCV infection.

The researchers observed the most noted connection between HCV and PD in patients who were younger (<65 years) and male, as well as those who exhibited a combination of comorbidities, including hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease.

“The significant association between HCV and PD in the young age group indicates the possibility of HCV as a potential individual risk factor in this group,” said lead study author Hsin-Hsi Tsai, MD, of the neurology department at National Taiwan University Hospital. “This is a quite interesting finding because there may be other particular factors affecting the young age patients—for example, the use of illicit drugs.”

The risk of developing PD is multifactorial, with their study showing HCV infection can be one of the risk factors, Tsai noted. “The positive association between HCV infection and PD has clinical implications for high endemic HCV areas, such as Taiwan. More detailed neurological tests and functional images might help us detect early or subclinical PD in anti-HCV(+) patients.”

Future research will explore for evidence of dopaminergic neuronal damage in patients with HCV infection, she said.

-Mike Bederka

Reference:

Tsai H-H, Liou H-H, Muo C-H, Lee C-Z, Yen R-F, Kao C-H. Hepatitis C virus infection as a risk factor for Parkinson disease: a nationwide cohort study. Neurology. 2015 Dec 23. [epub ahead of print]. DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002307.