Association between inflammatory markers and Parkinson’s disease risk: a cross-sectional, propensity score-matched analysis of NHANES data

Elevated NLR is significantly associated with the presence of PD among U.S. adults, independent of key confounders. However, due to the cross-sectional study design and reliance on self-reported PD status, causality cannot be inferred, and misclassification bias cannot be excluded. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to validate these findings and clarify the temporal relationship between systemic inflammation and PD.