Lifestyle factors and clinical severity of Parkinson’s disease

Genetic factors, environmental factors, and gene–environment interactions have been found to modify PD risk, age at onset (AAO), and disease progression. The objective of this study was to explore the association of coffee drinking, aspirin intake, and smoking, with motor and non-motor symptoms in a cohort of 35,959 American patients with PD from the Fox Insight Study using generalized linear models. Coffee drinkers had fewer problems swallowing but dosage and duration of coffee intake were not associated with motor or non-motor symptoms. Aspirin intake correlated with more tremor (p = 0.0026), problems getting up (p = 0.0185), light-headedness (p = 0.0043), and problems remembering (p = 1 × 10 –5 ). Smoking was directly associated with symptoms: smokers had more problems with drooling (p = 0.0106), swallowing (p = 0.0002), and freezing (p < 1 × 10 –5 ). Additionally, smokers had more possibly mood-related symptoms: unexplained pains (p < 1 × 10 –5 ), problems remembering (p = 0.0001), and feeling sad (p < 1 × 10 –5 ). Confirmatory and longitudinal studies are warranted to investigate the clinical correlation over time.