Effects of Smoking on Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

J Korean Neurol Assoc > Volume 18(4); 2000 > Article

Journal of the Korean Neurological Association 2000;18(4): 394-401.

흡연이 파킨슨병에 미치는 영향

강지훈, 임주혁 조인숙 이명종

울산대학교 의과대학 서울중앙병원 신경과학교실

Effects of Smoking on Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Ji-Hoon Kang, M.D., Joo-Hyuk Im, M.D., In-Sook Cho, R.N., Myung Chong Lee, M.D.

Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, Asan Medical Center

Abstract

Background : The cause of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD) is unknown. Recent studies suggest that IPD occurs less frequently in smokers than in non-smokers, but remains a controversial topic. We performed a case-control study to investigate the relationship between IPD and smoking in Korea. M e t h o d s : The smoking histories of 624 IPD patients were compared with 622 age- and sex-matched control subjects at the Asan Medical Center. Detailed informa-tion on smoking behavior was identified from a questionnaire and self report. A conditional logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and control for potential confounds. Results : With “never-smokers” as the refer-ence category, there was an inverse association between past-smokers and IPD (OR 0.617, p=0.029), and a stronger inverse association of IPD with current-smokers (OR 0.389, p<0.001). When smokers were stratified by the interval “since quitting”, there was an inverse association between those who stopped smoking more than 10 years ago and IPD (OR 0.753, p=0.31), and a greater inverse relationship with those who stopped smoking 1 to 10 years (OR 0.489, p=0.017). A significant trend of decreased risk of IPD with pack-years of smoking was detected. Conclusions : This study suggests that IPD occurs less often in smokers than in non-smokers. The inverse dose-response relationship between smoking and IPD provides indirect evidence that smoking is biologically protective. J Korean Neurol Assoc 18(4):394~401, 2000 Key Words : Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, Smoking