Influenza infection is associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson′s disease (PD) over 10 years later, suggests a large case-control study published online in JAMA Neurology. 

The researchers noted that the odds of PD were increased by around 90% for PD occurring more than 15 years following influenza infection and by over 70% for PD occurring more than 10 years following the infection. They used data from the Danish patient registry and identified 10,271 individuals with PD from 2000-2016. There appeared to be a link between influenza exposure and PD diagnosis. For more than 10 years before PD, the odds of a diagnosis for the infected compared with the uninfected was increased by 73% (odds ratio [OR] 1.73) after adjustment for cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, lung cancer, diabetes, Crohn disease, and ulcerative colitis… (Medscape)