The Parkinson's, Genes and Environment (PAGE) Study
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, affecting
more than 1 million elderly Americans. The causes of PD are largely unknown, but may include
both genetic and environmental factors. We thus propose a large study to investigate the
roles of diet, lifestyle, genes and their potential interactions in PD etiology, using the
NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. The AARP cohort was established by investigators at NCI and
recruited over half a million participants in 1995 and had prospectively collected detailed
information on diet and lifestyle. At baseline, participants were 50 years or older and
included 40% women. After more than 8 years of follow-up, we expect to confirm 1,208
incident PD cases with their neurologists. We will comprehensively examine the associations
between diet and lifestyle and risk of PD, focusing on dietary antioxidants, fat, caffeine,
dairy products, estrogen use, obesity, physical activity, and non steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Further, we will collect saliva samples from PD patients
and selected controls without PD for genetic analysis. These results will be used to explore
the PD associations with several common genetic polymorphisms and, for the first time, their
interactions with several promising diet or lifestyle exposures. Many of the specific aims
are novel and important but have been rarely examined in previous investigations. The
findings will improve our understanding of the complex relationships among diet, lifestyle,
gene-environment interaction, and PD etiology and may potentially contribute to successful
PD prevention strategies.
Study Aims:
1. Examine dietary factors that may increase or decrease PD risk.
2. Examine lifestyle factors that may increase or decrease PD risk.
3. Examine genetic polymorphisms in relation to PD risk and their interactions with diet
and lifestyle on PD risk.
Study Population: The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort.
Design:
1. Longitudinal study for the first two study aims
2. Nested case-control study for the third study aim.
Outcome Parameters: Physician confirmed PD diagnoses.
Observational
N/A
Honglei Chen, M.D.
Principal Investigator
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
United States: Federal Government
999906093
NCT00367900
February 2006
Name | Location |
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NIEHS, Research Triangle Park | Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709 |