Rheumatoid arthritis decreases risk for Parkinson’s disease: a Mendelian randomization study

Epidemiological and clinical studies have suggested comorbidity between rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson’s disease (PD), but whether there exists a causal association and the effect direction of rheumatoid arthritis on PD is controversial and elusive. To evaluate the causal relationship, we first estimated the genetic correlation between rheumatoid arthritis and PD, and then performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis based on summary statistics from large genome-wide association studies of rheumatoid arthritis (N = 47,580) and PD (N = 482,703). We identified negative and significant correlation between rheumatoid arthritis and PD (genetic correlation: −0.10, P = 0.0033). Meanwhile, one standard deviation increase in rheumatoid arthritis risk was associated with a lower risk of PD (OR: 0.904, 95% CI: 0.866–0.943, P: 2.95E–06). The result was robust under all sensitivity analyses. Our results provide evidence supporting a protective role of rheumatoid arthritis on PD. A deeper understanding of the inflammation and immune response is likely to elucidate the potential pathogenesis of PD and identify therapeutic targets for PD.