Mortality cancer risk in parkinsonian patients: A population-based study

Cancer mortality in a population-based cohort of 10,322 parkinsonian patien ts (448 deaths observed during 1987 to 1994) was compared with that of the Italian province of Rome using the standardized mortality ratio (SMR). The overall cancer mortality risk was lower in this cohort than in the referenc e population (SMR, 56; 95% CI, 51 to 61); This reduction included most canc er sites as well as both smoking-related (SMR, 51; 95% CI, 42 to 60) and no nsmoking-related cancers (SMR, 58; 95% CI, 52 to 65). The observed reductio n in cancer mortality risk in this cohort cannot be explained entirely by t he hypothesis that smokers are less likely to develop PD.