| Cross-sectional case-control studies  

Risk of hospitalization and death for COVID‐19 in people with Parkinson’s disease or parkinsonism

Risk of hospitalization and death for COVID‐19 in people with Parkinson’s disease or parkinsonism

 

The aim of the study was to assess the risk of hospitalisation for COVID‐19 and death in a cohort of patients with Parkinson’s disease or Parkinsonism compared to a control population cohort, during the epidemic bout (March‐May 2020) in Bologna, northern Italy. Participants of the ParkLink study with a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease or Parkinsonism, and people anonymously matched (ratio 1:10) for sex, age, district, and Charlson Index were included. The hospital admission rate for COVID‐19 (February 26 ‐ May 31, 2020) and the death rate for any cause were the outcomes of interest. The ParkLink cohort included 696 subjects with Parkinson’s disease and 184 with Parkinsonism; the control cohort contained 8,590 subjects. The 3‐month hospitalisation rate for COVID‐19 was 0.6% in Parkinson’s disease, 3.3% in Parkinsonism, and 0.7% in controls. The adjusted hazard ratio (age, sex, district, Charlson Index) was 0.8 (95% CI 0.3–2.3, p=0.74) in Parkinson’s disease and 3.3 (1.4‐7.6, p=0.006) in Parkinsonism compared to controls. Twenty‐nine of subjects who contracted the infection died; the 30‐day fatality rate was 35.1%, without any differences among the three groups. Six out of ten Parkinson’s disease/Parkinsonism patients had the infection during hospitalisation or in a nursing home. The authors concluded that PD per se is probably not a risk factor for COVID‐19 hospitalisation. Conversely, Parkinsonism is an independent risk factor probably due to more severe health problems, entailing higher care dependency and placement in high infection-risk accommodation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.28408