2 research outputs found
a case–control study
Objectives: To determine the association between Toxoplasma gondii infection
and Parkinson's disease and to investigate whether T. gondii seropositivity is
associated with the general characteristics of patients with Parkinson's
disease. Design Case–control study. Setting: Cases and controls were enrolled
in Durango City, Mexico. Participants: 65 patients with Parkinson's disease
and 195 age- and gender-matched control subjects without Parkinson's disease.
Primary and secondary: outcome measures Serum samples of participants were
analysed for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies by commercially available
enzyme-linked immunoassays. Prevalence of T. gondii DNA was determined in
seropositive subjects using PCR. The association between clinical data and
infection was examined by bivariate analysis. Results: Anti-T. gondii IgG
antibodies were found in 6/65 cases (9.2%) and in 21/195 controls (10.8%) (OR
0.84; 95% CI 0.32 to 2.18; p=0.81). The frequency of high (>150 IU/mL)
antibody levels was similar among cases and controls (p=0.34). None of the
anti-T. gondii IgG positive cases and four of the anti-T. gondii IgG positive
controls had anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies (p=0.54). The prevalence of T.
gondii DNA was comparable in seropositive cases and controls (16.7% and 25%,
respectively; p=1.0). Seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was associated
with a young age onset of disease (p=0.03), high Unified Parkinson Disease
Rating Scale scores (p=0.04) and depression (p=0.02). Seropositivity to T.
gondii infection was lower in patients treated with pramipexole than in
patients without this treatment (p=0.01). However, none of the associations
remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Conclusions: The results do
not support an association between T. gondii infection and Parkinson's
disease. However, T. gondii infection might have an influence on certain
symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Further research to elucidate the role of T.
gondii exposure on Parkinson's disease is warranted