Daily steps are a predictor of, but perhaps not a risk factor for Parkinson's disease: findings from the UK Biobank.
Daily steps are a predictor of, but perhaps not a risk factor for Parkinson's disease: findings from the UK Biobank.
Where did the research take place?
The study site has not been established. Author addresses may differ from where the research occurred.
Oxford, GB · Author affiliation
Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.Location evidence
London, GB · Author affiliation
GSK, London, UK.Location evidence
Bethesda, US · Author affiliation
Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.Location evidence
CN · Author affiliation · country only
Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research, University of Oxford, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.Location evidence
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Original abstract
Previous studies link lower physical activity with incident Parkinson's disease (PD) but rely on self-reported data and fail to address reverse causation. This study used accelerometer-derived daily step count, an objective measure of physical activity, to examine its association with incident PD in the UK Biobank, within successive periods of follow-up. PD cases were identified through hospital inpatient and death data, and associated with machine learning-derived step counts using Cox regression models, adjusted for age, sex, demographic and lifestyle factors. For 94,696 valid participants and a median follow-up of 7.9 years, 407 incident PD cases occurred. Every 1000 steps higher were associated with 8% lower risk of PD (hazard ratio 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.89-0.94). However, this association was no longer statistically significant when excluding follow-up periods closer to the time of accelerometer wear, suggesting that low activity may be an early marker, but not a risk factor for PD.