TOPLINE

Ocular motor cranial neuropathy (OMCN) is associated with more than a 50% higher risk for Parkinson’s disease (PD), a new study showed, suggesting it may be an early indicator of neurodegeneration.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database from 2010 to 2017, including 19,859 patients newly diagnosed with OMCN (mean age, 62.3 years; 62.6% men).
• For comparison, 99,295 age- and sex-matched individuals without OMCN were included.
• A 1-year lag period was applied to minimize reverse causality.
• The primary outcome was the incidence of PD, with a mean follow-up of 4.35 years.

TAKEAWAY

• During follow-up, 584 participants developed PD, with a cumulative incidence of 0.72% vs 0.45% in the OMCN and control groups, respectively.
• After adjusting for age, sex, lifestyle, BMI, income, and comorbidities, OMCN was independently associated with an increased risk for PD (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.55; P < .0001).
• OMCN was associated with an increased risk for PD in all subgroup analyses, with no significant interactions observed for demographic or clinical variables, including cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or obesity.

IN PRACTICE

“Our findings suggest that OMCN may serve as an early clinical indicator, highlighting the need for neurological surveillance in these patients,” the investigators wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Jaeryung Kim, MD, PhD, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. It was published online on June 17 in Parkinsonism & Related Disorders.

LIMITATIONS

The study was limited by its retrospective design, a short follow-up period, potential surveillance bias, and the absence of granular etiological data within the database. The study population was limited to patients in the Korean National Health Screening Program, which may have limited the generalizability of the findings.

DISCLOSURES

The study was supported by the National Research Foundation funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea. The investigators reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.