Observations placeholder
Elevated Serum Pesticide Levels and Risk of Parkinson Disease
Identifier
027717
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Arch Neurol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 Jun 26.
Published in final edited form as:
Arch Neurol. 2009 Jul; 66(7): 870–875.
doi: [10.1001/archneurol.2009.89]
PMCID: PMC3383784
NIHMSID: NIHMS374877
PMID: 19597089
Elevated Serum Pesticide Levels and Risk of Parkinson Disease
Jason R. Richardson, PhD, Stuart L. Shalat, ScD, Brian Buckley, PhD, Bozena Winnik, PhD, Padraig O’Suilleabhain, MD, Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, MD, PhD, Joan Reisch, PhD, and Dwight C. German, PhD
Background
Exposure to pesticides has been reported to increase the risk of Parkinson disease (PD), but identification of the specific pesticides is lacking. Three studies have found elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides in postmortem PD brains.
Objective
To determine whether elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides are present in the serum of patients with PD.
Design
Case-control study.
Setting
An academic medical center.
Participants
Fifty patients with PD, 43 controls, and 20 patients with Alzheimer disease.
Main Outcome Measures
Levels of 16 organochlorine pesticides in serum samples.
Results
β-Hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH) was more often detectable in patients with PD (76%) compared with controls (40%) and patients with Alzheimer disease (30%). The median level of β-HCH was higher in patients with PD compared with controls and patients with Alzheimer disease. There were no marked differences in detection between controls and patients with PD concerning any of the other 15 organochlorine pesticides. Finally, we observed a significant odds ratio for the presence of β-HCH in serum to predict a diagnosis of PD vs control (odds ratio, 4.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.67–11.6) and PD vs Alzheimer disease (odds ratio, 5.20), which provides further evidence for the apparent association between serum β-HCH and PD.
Conclusions
These data suggest that β-HCH is associated with a diagnosis of PD. Further research is warranted regarding the potential role of β-HCH as a etiologic agent for some cases of PD.