Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative movement disorder. Observational studies suggest higher levels of plasma urate may protect against Parkinson's risk and progression; however, causality cannot be established.
Objectives: This study set out to determine whether there is a true causal association between urate levels and PD age at onset (AAO) and progression severity using recently released PD AAO and progression genome-wide association study (GWAS) data.
Methods: A large two-sample Mendelian randomization design was employed, using genetic variants underlying urate levels and the latest GWAS data for PD outcomes.
Results: This study found no causal association between urate levels and Parkinson's risk, AAO, or progression severity.
Conclusions: Our results predict increasing urate levels as a therapeutic strategy is unlikely to benefit PD patients. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Keywords: Mendelian randomization; Parkinson's disease; genome-wide association-study; urate.
© 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.