People with stomach inflammation… High risk of ‘this disease’ 14 years later?

People with a history of erosion, esophagitis, ulcers or digestive damage should be more alert to the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is estimated to affect an estimated 8.5 million people worldwide, a number that has more than doubled in the past 30 years, a study suggests.

According to a study published in the international journal JAMA Network Open, people with a history of upper gastrointestinal (GI) mucosal damage were 76% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those without.

Using patient data from electronic databases representing urban academic centers, outpatient clinics, and community hospitals in the greater Boston area, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) identified a cohort of patients with no history of Parkinson’s disease who underwent upper endoscopy (EGD), a procedure that images and diagnoses problems with the esophagus, stomach, and first part of the small intestine (which makes up the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract) between 2000 and 2005. Patients who had damage to the lining of the upper GI tract, called mucosal lesions, were matched in a 1:3 ratio to patients without mucosal lesions. The researchers followed all patients through July 2023.

Among the 2,338 patients with mucosal damage, 2.2% later developed Parkinson’s disease, compared with 0.5% of the 8,955 patients without mucosal damage. The difference was larger after adjusting for confounding factors. People with a history of mucosal damage had a 76% higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than those without a history of mucosal damage. On average, Parkinson’s disease was diagnosed 14.2 years after the mucosal damage was found by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

“The gut can profoundly influence the brain in ways we are only just beginning to understand,” said Dr. Trisha S. Pasricha, a neurogastroenterologist and director of clinical research at BIDMC’s Gut-Brain Institute. “Many people with Parkinson’s disease experience symptoms of upper gastrointestinal damage, such as constipation and nausea, for years, even decades, before they develop motor symptoms, such as difficulty walking or tremors.”