Impact of Neurodegenerative Disease on the Development of Cancer in Elderly Koreans:A 10-Year Cohort Study Using National Health Insurance Database

ABSTRACT

Objective@#We evaluated the association between cancer and various neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and circumscribed brain atrophy (CBA) and to evaluate the impact of ND on the development of cancer. @*Methods@#A population-based longitudinal study was conducted using the National Health Information Database for 2002-2015.A total of 9,365 ND patients (3,157 AD, 5,866 PD, 342 CBA) were included in the study, as were 46,818 matched controls. @*Results@#Various NDs were newly developed in control and ND groups during the 10-year follow-up periods. Newly developed ND cases were as follows 33.0% in control, 35.3% in AD, 19.9% in PD, and 45.3% in CBA. Cancer developed in 22.6% of ND groups (20.5% AD, 23.6% PD, 24.3% CBA) and in 18.5% of control group. Cancer development was significantly higher in AD pa-tients with new ND cases (especially PD cases), compared to patients without new ND cases (22.8% vs. 19.3%, p=0.019). There were no differences in the frequencies of cancer development between patients with and without new ND cases in PD, CBA, and control groups. The adjusted hazard ratios for cancer in AD, PD, and CBA groups were 1.43, 1.55, and 1.58, respectively. @*Conclusion@#This study showed that various NDs are positively associated with development of cancer and suggests that newly developed PD in AD group during the follow-up period may influence the development of cancer that follows.