Environmental Factors and Parkinson's Disease: A Case-Control Study in Belgrade, Serbia

ABSTRACT A case-control study was performed in Belgrade in order to investigate the association between Parkinson's disease (PD) and some environmental factors. During the period 2001–2005, 110 new PD cases and 220 hospital controls were interviewed. Cases and controls were matched by sex, age (±2 years), and place of residence (urban/rural). According to multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis, PD was positively asssociated with exposure to insecticides (odds ratio (OR) 3.22, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.32–7.87), dyes (OR 25.33; 95% CI, 2.89–222.0), and naphtha and its derivates (OR 9.53; 95% CI, 1.04–86.96), and with gardening (OR 5.51; 95% CI, 3.04–10.01), well water drinking (OR 2.62; 95% CI, 1.40–4.90), and spring water drinking (OR 2.19; 95% CI, 1.15–4.16). Negative association was found for service-sector working (OR 0.15; 95% CI, 0.04–0.59). The results obtained did not changed after adjustment for smoking. The findings of the present study support the role of environmental factors in the occurence of PD.