Risk of Hospitalization and Death for COVID‐19 in People with Parkinson's Disease or Parkinsonism

Abstract

Background The risk of COVID‐19 and related death in people with Parkinson's disease or parkinsonism is uncertain. The aim of the study was to assess the risk of hospitalization for COVID‐19 and death in a cohort of patients with Parkinson's disease or parkinsonism compared with a control population cohort, during the epidemic bout (March–May 2020) in Bologna, northern Italy. Methods Participants of the ParkLink study with the clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or parkinsonism and people anonymously matched (ratio 1:10) for sex, age, district, and Charlson Index were included. The hospital admission rate for COVID‐19 (February 26–May 31, 2020) and the death rate for any cause were the outcomes of interest. Results The ParkLink cohort included 696 subjects with Parkinson's disease and 184 with parkinsonism, and the control cohort had 8590 subjects. The 3‐month hospitalization rate for COVID‐19 was 0.6% in Parkinson's disease, 3.3% in parkinsonism, and 0.7% in controls. The adjusted hazard ratio (age, sex, district, Charlson Index) was 0.8 (95% CI, 0.3–2.3, P = 0.74) in Parkinson's disease and 3.3 (1.4–7.6, P = 0.006) in parkinsonism compared with controls. Twenty‐nine of the infected subjects died; 30‐day fatality rate was 35.1%, without difference among the 3 groups. Six of 10 Parkinson's disease/parkinsonism patients had the infection during hospitalization or in a nursing home. Conclusions Parkinson's disease per se probably is not a risk factor for COVID‐19 hospitalization. Conversely, parkinsonism is an independent risk factor probably because of a more severe health status, entailing higher care dependence and placement in high‐infection‐risk accommodations. © 2020 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases Predict Different COVID-19 Outcomes: A UK Biobank Study

“…Thus far, several studies have suggested a relationship between COVID-19 and neurodegenerative disorders. An early report [ 19 ] this year showed that a dementia diagnosis was associated with the largest increase in the risk of COVID-19 in the UK Biobank based on a smaller cohort of 507 COVID-19-positive patients from England aged 65 and older. Dementia has also been found to increase the risk of in-hospital mortality in a large cross-sectional analysis of 20,133 patients already hospitalised for COVID-19 in the UK [ 13 ], a finding later replicated by two cohort, retrospective studies [ 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Our cohort included 157 participants with parkinsonism, of whom 142 were diagnosed with PD. To account for potential differences between parkinsonism and PD in the context of COVID-19-related vulnerability [ 19 ], we built 2 separate models—one with individuals diagnosed with parkinsonism and one with PD patients only. Information on all covariates was obtained from primary care records provided by the UK Biobank.…”

“…As PD-related pathology often leads to respiratory muscle rigidity and an impairment of the cough reflex at advanced stages of the disease [ 18 ], individuals suffering from this condition may be at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality [ 19 ]. Although data are thus far limited, it is conceivable that PD patients may be at elevated risk of severe respiratory complications following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection or even unfavourable outcomes.…”

Covid-19 impact on Parkinson’s Disease patients treated by drugs or deep brain stimulation

“…In December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or Covid-19, causing a pneumonia-like illness, emerged in China and spread quickly all around the world and now is an ongoing pandemic [1]. The effect of the neurological disorder as a risk factor for Covid- 19 infection is yet to be fully understood, and its impact on clinical features of these diseases need to be well characterized [2]. Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system, with an increased prevalence by aging [3].…”

Effects of COVID -19 pandemic and lockdown on people with multiple system atrophy participating in a therapeutic education program

“…COVID-19 has been widely studied in people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD)[ 1 ], but besides a study including only nine people with multiple system atrophy (PwMSA) in a cohort of mostly vascular parkinsonism cases [ 2 ], information is lacking on COVID-19 outcomes in PwMSA.…”