Healthy eating, working out promote longevity in PD patients

Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients who follow a healthy diet and engage in physical activity appear to fare well, with a recent study showing that both lifestyle behaviours cut the risk of all-cause mortality.

The study used data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986–2012) and the Nurses’ Health Study (1984–2012). A total of 1,251 individuals who were diagnosed with PD (median age at diagnosis 73.4 years, 52.1 percent men) and had complete baseline dietary assessment were included in the analysis.

Researchers examined the risk of all-cause mortality, the primary study outcome, in relation to prediagnosis and postdiagnosis diet quality (Alternative Healthy Eating Index [AHEI]) and physical activity (metabolic equivalent task [MET] hours per week), as reported on questionnaires.

There were 942 participants who died over 32–34 years of follow-up. The risk of all-cause death was significantly lower among patients in the highest vs lowest AHEI quartile both for the prediagnosis (hazard ratio [HR], 0.69, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.56–0.85) and postdiagnosis (HR, 0.57, 95 percent CI, 0.42–0.78) analyses.

Similar results were obtained for physical activity, with the risk lower among patients in the highest vs lowest quartile of cumulative mean MET hours per week (prediagnosis: HR, 0.71, 95 percent CI, 0.57–0.87; postdiagnosis: HR, 0.47, 95 percent CI, 0.35–0.63).

The beneficial effect of healthy diet and physical activity was also observed for PD-specific mortality (postdiagnosis AHEI: HR, 0.52, 95 percent CI, 0.33–0.80; postdiagnosis physical activity: HR, 0.37, 95 percent CI, 0.25–0.55).

In the joint analyses of diet quality and physical activity, the adjusted HR for all-cause death was 0.51 (95 percent CI, 0.36–0.73) for individuals in the highest vs lowest tertiles for both variables prior to diagnosis. In terms of postdiagnosis diet quality and physical activity, the HR was 0.35 (95 percent CI, 0.23–0.52).

The findings suggest that consumption of healthy foods and engaging in physical activity or exercise could be targeted to improve PD outcomes.