Assessing the Association Between Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents and Parkinson Disease: Insights From the Korean National Health Insurance Service Database.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between the use of linear and macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) and the subsequent development of Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, data were extracted from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, comprising 1,038,439 individuals. From this population, 175,125 adults aged 40 to 60 years with no history of brain disease were identified. All patients including 3835 who were administered GBCA at least once were monitored until 2022 for the onset of PD. Propensity score (PS) matching was employed to compare the incidence of PD between those exposed to GBCAs (either linear or macrocyclic) and those not exposed (no-GBCA group).

Results: The final cohort consisted of 1175 subjects exposed to linear GBCAs, 2334 exposed to macrocyclic GBCAs, and 171,616 unexposed to any GBCA (no-GBCA group). After PS matching, PD incidence was significantly higher in the linear GBCA group compared with the no-GBCA group (0.9% vs 0.0%, P = 0.002) and was also significantly higher in the macrocyclic GBCA group than in the no-GBCA group (0.5% vs 0.04%, P = 0.003). No significant difference in PD incidence was observed between the linear and macrocyclic GBCA groups.

Conclusions: Exposure to GBCAs was linked to an increased risk of developing PD in this large population-based study. The risk of PD did not differ significantly between linear and macrocyclic GBCAs.