Prospective study on the components of metabolic syndrome and the incidence of Parkinson's disease

Abstract Introduction Inconsistent results regarding the association between the components of metabolic syndrome and Parkinson's disease (PD) have been reported. We investigated whether the metabolic syndrome or its components, or serum total cholesterol, predict PD incidence in a prospective cohort study design. Methods The study was based on the Mini-Finland Health Survey including 6641 individuals aged 30–79 and free from PD at baseline (1978–1980). During 30 years of follow-up, 89 incident PD cases occurred. Results After adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, the relative risk (RR) of PD was 0.50 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.30, 0.83) for individuals with the metabolic syndrome compared to those without. This association was especially due to elevated serum triglyceride concentration (≥1.7 vs.