De los 21.600 participantes con diabetes, a 172 (0,8 por ciento) se les diagnosticó párkinson, comparado con 1.393 casos (0,5 por ciento) de los 267.000 hombres y mujeres sin diabetes al inicio del estudio publicado en la edición de abril de Diabetes Care.
Tras considerar otros factores (edad, peso y tabaquismo), la diabetes estuvo asociada con un 41 por ciento más riesgo de desarrollar párkinson más adelante.
Pero eso no prueba que la diabetes cause párkinson y se desconoce la causa de la relación, resumió el autor principal del estudio, doctor Honglei Chen, de U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
"Las evidencias aún son muy preliminares", dijo Chen a Reuters Health. Por lo tanto, aconsejó que los diabéticos sigan cuidando su salud general con una alimentación equilibrada y ejercicio.
La diabetes aparece cuando el organismo no puede seguir utilizando correctamente la hormona reguladora del azúcar en sangre (insulina).
El párkinson es una enfermedad del cerebro en la que las células que regulan el movimiento mueren o no pueden funcionar bien, lo que produce síntomas como temblores, rigidez articular, lentitud en los movimientos y desequilibrio.
Pero Chen insistió en que la relación entre la diabetes y el aumento del riesgo de desarrollar párkinson significaría que ambos trastornos comparten algunos mecanismos. Una posibilidad es una inflamación sistémica crónica de bajo grado, que va dañando las células, sostuvo. Otra podría ser la oxidación.
En general, el equipo halló que el riesgo más alto de desarrollar párkinson se registró sobre todo en las personas que habían convivido más de 10 años con la diabetes.
Esto respalda la noción de que la diabetes aparece primero que el párkinson, dijo Chen. Pero sostuvo que se necesitan más estudios para comprender por qué surge esta conexión y qué se podría hacer, si así fuera posible.
Diabetes tied to higher Parkinson's disease risk
People with diabetes may have a slightly increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, a new study suggests though the reasons for the link, researchers say, are far from clear.
The study, of nearly 289,000 older U.S. adults, found that those with diabetes at the outset were more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson's over the next 15 years.
Of 21,600 participants with diabetes, 172 (0.8 percent) were eventually diagnosed with Parkinson's. That compared with 1,393 cases (0.5 percent) among the 267,000 men and women who were diabetes-free at the study's start.
When the researchers accounted for other factors (like age, weight and smoking habits) diabetes itself was linked to a 41 percent increase in the risk of future Parkinson's.
That, however, does not prove that diabetes is a cause of Parkinson's, and the reasons for the connection remain unknown, said senior researcher Dr. Honglei Chen, of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
"Really, the evidence at this time is very preliminary," Chen told Reuters Health.
People with diabetes, he said, should simply continue to do the things already recommended for their overall health, eating a well-balanced diet and getting regular exercise.
Chen and his colleagues report the findings in the April issue of the journal Diabetes Care.
Diabetes and Parkinson's disease would seem, at first, to be unrelated.
Diabetes arises when the body can no longer properly use the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin. Parkinson's is a brain disease in which movement-regulating cells in the brain die off or become disabled, leading to symptoms like tremors, rigidity in the joints, slowed movement and balance problems.
But Chen said the connection between diabetes and Parkinson's risk could mean that the two diseases share some underlying mechanisms.
One possibility, he speculated, is chronic, low-level inflammation throughout the body, which is suspected of contributing to a number of chronic diseases by damaging cells. Oxidation (the process fought by anti-oxidants) is another.
On the other hand, Chen and his colleagues say, there might be something about diabetes - like a problem regulating insulin, that contributes to Parkinson's. But that remains to be proven.
A few large studies have looked at the diabetes-Parkinson's link before, with conflicting results.
The current study, Chen said, included a larger number of people with Parkinson's. And unlike most past studies, it looked at the duration of people's diabetes.
In general, Chen's team found, the higher Parkinson's risk was largely seen among people who'd had diabetes for more than 10 years before the start of the study.
That, Chen said, supports the idea that diabetes came first, before Parkinson's, rather than the other way around.
But more studies, he said, are needed to understand why the connection exists, and what, if anything, can be done about it.
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