Dose-dependent protective effect of coffee, tea, and smoking in Parkinson's disease: a study in ethnic Chinese

Department of Neurology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore. gnrtek@sgh.com.sg

INTRODUCTION: Few studies have examined the relationship of coffee and tea in Parkinson's disease (PD). The potential protective effect of coffee intake and risk of PD has not been studied in a Chinese population. There is a high prevalence of caffeine takers among Chinese in our population. OBJECTIVE: We undertook a case control study to examine the relationship between coffee and tea drinking, cigarette smoking, and other enviromental factors and risk of PD among ethnic Chinese in our population. METHODS AND RESULTS: 300 PD and 500 population controls were initially screened. Two hundred case control pairs matched for age, gender, and race were finally included in the analysis. Univariate analysis revealed significant association of PD with coffee drinking (p<0.0005), p="0.019)," p="0.001)," p="0.006)." p="0.006)," p="0.014)," p="0.003)," p="0.044)," p="0.016)">