tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Neurodegener Dis Manag
. 2026 Jun 12:1-10.
doi: 10.1080/17582024.2026.2687479. Online ahead of print.
Association between influenza infection and subsequent Parkinson's disease diagnosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Alice Halim[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shin Jie Yong[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Anood A Alenezy[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Maha A Aljumaa[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Zainab H Almansour[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Hayam A Alrasheed[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Ali Hazazi[SUP] 8 9 [/SUP], Nawal A Al Kaabi[SUP] 10 11 [/SUP], Ali A Zaidan[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Mashahed Y Almoutawa[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Nada N Alshehri[SUP] 14 [/SUP], Jumana M Al-Jishi[SUP] 15 [/SUP], Mohammed S Almogbel[SUP] 16 [/SUP], Rana Abdulrahim Ali Alaeq[SUP] 17 [/SUP], Ali A Rabaan[SUP] 9 18 19 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Introduction: As infectious agents may be associated with neurodegenerative diseases, this systematic review and meta-analysis investigated whether prior influenza infection is associated with an increased odds of subsequent Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis.
Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus for observational studies examining influenza infection and later PD diagnosis. Seven studies (comprising eight cohorts) were analyzed using frequentist and Bayesian random-effects meta-analyses. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses were conducted to explore the moderating effect of the time interval between influenza exposure and subsequent PD diagnosis (i.e. exposure window).
Results: A significant association was observed in both approaches: pooled OR = 1.87 (95% CI: 1.24-2.81) under the frequentist model, and posterior median OR = 1.88 (95% CrI: 1.07-3.36) under the Bayesian model. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses identified the influenza exposure window as a moderator (R[SUP]2[/SUP] = 36.6%, p < 0.05), with studies reporting influenza exposure within five years before PD diagnosis showing the strongest associations.
Conclusion: Our findings support a probable and temporally sensitive association between influenza infection and subsequent PD diagnosis. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously, given the retrospective and heterogeneous nature of the available data.
Keywords: Bayesian meta-analysis; Parkinson’s disease; epidemiology; influenza virus; meta-regression; neurodegenerative disease; neuroscience.
. 2026 Jun 12:1-10.
doi: 10.1080/17582024.2026.2687479. Online ahead of print.
Association between influenza infection and subsequent Parkinson's disease diagnosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Alice Halim[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shin Jie Yong[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Anood A Alenezy[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Maha A Aljumaa[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Zainab H Almansour[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Hayam A Alrasheed[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Ali Hazazi[SUP] 8 9 [/SUP], Nawal A Al Kaabi[SUP] 10 11 [/SUP], Ali A Zaidan[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Mashahed Y Almoutawa[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Nada N Alshehri[SUP] 14 [/SUP], Jumana M Al-Jishi[SUP] 15 [/SUP], Mohammed S Almogbel[SUP] 16 [/SUP], Rana Abdulrahim Ali Alaeq[SUP] 17 [/SUP], Ali A Rabaan[SUP] 9 18 19 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 42283143
- DOI: 10.1080/17582024.2026.2687479
Introduction: As infectious agents may be associated with neurodegenerative diseases, this systematic review and meta-analysis investigated whether prior influenza infection is associated with an increased odds of subsequent Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis.
Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus for observational studies examining influenza infection and later PD diagnosis. Seven studies (comprising eight cohorts) were analyzed using frequentist and Bayesian random-effects meta-analyses. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses were conducted to explore the moderating effect of the time interval between influenza exposure and subsequent PD diagnosis (i.e. exposure window).
Results: A significant association was observed in both approaches: pooled OR = 1.87 (95% CI: 1.24-2.81) under the frequentist model, and posterior median OR = 1.88 (95% CrI: 1.07-3.36) under the Bayesian model. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses identified the influenza exposure window as a moderator (R[SUP]2[/SUP] = 36.6%, p < 0.05), with studies reporting influenza exposure within five years before PD diagnosis showing the strongest associations.
Conclusion: Our findings support a probable and temporally sensitive association between influenza infection and subsequent PD diagnosis. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously, given the retrospective and heterogeneous nature of the available data.
Keywords: Bayesian meta-analysis; Parkinson’s disease; epidemiology; influenza virus; meta-regression; neurodegenerative disease; neuroscience.