Social Isolation and the Risk of Parkinson Disease: the UK Biobank Study

Abstract Background Parkinson disease (PD) has become one of the most rapidly growing causes of disability among the older population and social isolation is a major concern in the PD community. However, the relationship between social isolation and future risk of PD remains unclear. Methods This study included 192,340 participants aged 60 or older who were free of dementia and PD at baseline from the UK Biobank study. Social isolation was measured using a composite score derived from three questions on number in household, frequency of friend/family visits, and leisure/social activities. Incident PD cases were identified through electronic health records. Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models were used to compute the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Among the 192,340 participants (mean [standard deviation] age, 64.2 [2.9] years; 103,253 [53.7%] women), 89,075 (46.3%) participants were in the least isolated group and 26,161 (13.6%) were in the most isolated group. Over a median follow-up of 12.5 years, 2048 incident PD cases were documented. Compared to the least isolated group, the multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for PD were 1.00 (0.91–1.10) for the moderately isolated group and 1.19 (1.05–1.36) for the most isolated group ( P - trend =0.04). The observed association was independent of the genetic susceptibility to PD and consistent in subgroup analyses. Conclusions Social isolation was associated with a higher risk of PD regardless of genetic risk. Our findings highlighted the importance of developing screening and intervention strategies for social isolation among older adults to reduce the risk of PD.