Risk Factors Of Parkinson’s Disease

Medical History And Comorbid Diseases

Eleven SRs explored the associations between PD development and medical history and comorbid disease, including head trauma, family history of PD or tremor, mood disorder, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, gastric ulcer, general anesthetic, oophorectomy, gout, constipation, reproductive factors, bullous pemphigoid, depression, bipolar disorder, and Toxoplasma gondii, bacterial, viral, and fungal infections .

Pooled results showed that depression , mood disorder , bipolar disorder , and constipation were positively associated with PD development , while no significant associations were found between PD development and oophorectomy, gout, age at menarche, age at menopause, parity, or type of menopause .

What Raises Someone’s Risk For Parkinson’s

It’s a complex picture, but you may be more likely to get Parkinson’s based on:

Age. Since it mostly affects people 60 and older, your risk goes up as the years go by.

Family history. If your parent, brother, or sister has it, you’re a little more likely to get it.

Job. Some types of work, like farming or factory jobs, can cause you to have contact with chemicals linked to Parkinson’s.

Race. It shows up more often in white people than other groups.

Serious head injury. If you hit your head hard enough to lose consciousness or forget things as a result of it, you may be more likely to get Parkinson’s later in life.

Gender. Men get it more than women. Doctors aren’t sure why.

Where you live. People in rural areas seem to get it more often, which may be tied to chemicals used in farming.

Pesticide And Herbicide Exposure

A strong link has been shown between PD and exposure to pesticides and herbicides. We need more Parkinsons-specific research to better understand what causes PD and to work to prevent it and help eliminate the risk of getting the disease when it comes to all environmental risk factors and whether genetics can cause an increased risk of developing Parkinsons.

You May Like: Indoor Cycling For Parkinson’s

How Does This Condition Affect My Body

Parkinsons disease causes a specific area of your brain, the basal ganglia, to deteriorate. As this area deteriorates, you lose the abilities those areas once controlled. Researchers have uncovered that Parkinsons disease causes a major shift in your brain chemistry.

Under normal circumstances, your brain uses chemicals known as neurotransmitters to control how your brain cells communicate with each other. When you have Parkinsons disease, you dont have enough dopamine, one of the most important neurotransmitters.

When your brain sends activation signals that tell your muscles to move, it fine-tunes your movements using cells that require dopamine. Thats why lack of dopamine causes the slowed movements and tremors symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

As Parkinson’s disease progresses, the symptoms expand and intensify. Later stages of the disease often affect how your brain functions, causing dementia-like symptoms and depression.

Comparing Risk Factors Of Incident Pd And Coronary Events

With respect to the effects of the risk factors, the differences between PD and coronary events are shown in Table and Fig. . Smoking and LDL were positively associated with risk of coronary events but were inversely associated with risk of PD . Hypertension, lipid-lowering drugs, BMI, ApoB/ApoA1 ratio, and ApoB were positively associated with the risk of coronary events but were not associated with PD . In addition, ApoA1 was inversely associated with the risk of coronary events but was not associated with PD . By contrast, age, male sex, diabetes, NLR, and FBG were common risk factors for coronary events and PD .

Also Check: Physiotherapy For Parkinson’s Disease

How Do I Take Care Of Myself

If you have Parkinsons disease, the best thing you can do is follow the guidance of your healthcare provider on how to take care of yourself.

• Take your medication as prescribed. Taking your medications can make a huge difference in the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. You should take your medications as prescribed and talk to your provider if you notice side effects or start to feel like your medications aren’t as effective.
• See your provider as recommended. Your healthcare provider will set up a schedule for you to see them. These visits are especially important to help with managing your conditions and finding the right medications and dosages.
• Dont ignore or avoid symptoms. Parkinsons disease can cause a wide range of symptoms, many of which are treatable by treating the condition or the symptoms themselves. Treatment can make a major difference in keeping symptoms from having worse effects.

What This Study Adds

• The disease rate was higher in rural areas compared to urban areas.

• The odds of developing PD was lower in smokers and people having exposure to tobacco products. In drivers, the disease rate was significantly lower, while in farmers, this rate was significantly higher. Moreover, the disease rate was higher in individuals having exposure to aldrin. Furthermore, this study also revealed the association between PD and exposure duration to risk factors.

• The disease rate was higher in individuals having depression, hypertension, or a familial history of PD.

• In Pakistan, levodopa therapy is commonly used to treat PD patients.

Also Check: Restore Gold Parkinson’s Reviews

Family History & Genetics

Researchers have been able to identify certain genetic mutations that can increase the risk of developing Parkinsons disease.

These are the two types of Parkinsons disease, from a genetic standpoint:

• Hereditary Parkinsons disease: Roughly 15% of all cases of Parkinsons disease are inherited. In these cases, mutations in certain genes are passed down through families and increase the individuals risk of developing this condition.
• Sporadic Parkinsons disease: On the other hand, cases in which people dont have a family history of Parkinsons disease are referred to as sporadic cases. These cases are in fact the majority. Scientists have found that alterations in certain genes may also play a role in sporadic cases, in addition to other environmental and lifestyle-related factors.

However, the role that these genetic mutations play in the development of the condition hasnt been fully understood yet.

Emerging Concepts Of Lifestyle And Cognitive Reserve In Parkinsons Disease Development

The effects of cognitive reserve in PD have raised the interest of many researchers in the last decade, as well as some controversy. A significant number of studies report that lower education levels, measured as the number of years in education, are associated with an increased risk of dementia in PD . Inversely, cognitive reserve may slow the progression of global cognitive decline in PD showing a positive effect . It is not clear whether there is enough empirical evidence behind these findings. Thus, one cross-sectional study of 120 PD patients reported that higher education level may exert protective effect only in short-term memory and not on the global cognitive decline while a systematic meta-analysis did not find an association between cognitive reserve and lower risk of long-term dementia in PD . Noteworthy, some studies, as the one carried out by Muslimovi et al. , show that years of daily brain stimulation positively correlated with cognitive performance of PD patients. Therefore, it seems that poor neuronal stimulation can be associated with higher cognitive decline .

Read Also: Vascular Parkinson’s Disease Treatment

Potential Causes Of Parkinsons Disease

The cause of Parkinsons disease is still unknown, although there is some evidence for the role of genetics, environmental factors, or a combination of both. It is also possible that there may be more than one cause of the disease. Scientists generally believe that both genetics and environment interact to cause Parkinsons disease in most people who have it.

Currently, there is an enormous amount of research directed at producing more answers about what causes Parkinsons disease and how it might be prevented or cured. When physicians diagnose Parkinsons, they often describe it as idiopathic . This simply means that the cause of the disease is not known.

Caffeine And Other Methylxanthines

There is controversy in almost any potential risk factor. For instance, despite previous works providing evidence on negative correlation between coffee consumption and PD risk , we have been unable to find similar results in a case-control study. On the one hand, there is a consensus that there are compounds in coffee that can afford protection, such as caffeine and similar methylxanthines, which block adenosine receptors. On the other hand, the consumption of caffeine is not easy to asses due to differences in caffeine content in coffee, to inter-country differences in the style/amount of drinking coffee/tea, and to the fact that caffeinated drinks must be also considered in the risk analysis. Overall, the evidence stands up. In the exhaustive meta-analysis of Noyce et al. , a significant negative association between coffee drinking and PD risk is confirmed. More information on the validity of this negative association can be found in more recent reviews .

Read Also: What Happens To You When You Have Parkinson’s Disease

Characteristics Of The Study Population

After exclusion of individuals with missing data or outliers, 503,497 participants were available for the present analyses. Among these participants, 603 had an incident PD event. Analyses of the associations of CVD risk factors with PD were restricted to the 480,950 participants with no prior history of CVD and included 521 PD cases . The mean duration of follow-up was 9 years in all participants.

Overall, 59.2% of participants were women, 56.0% lived in rural regions, 57.3% had an income less than or equal to 19,999 yuan, and 50.8% had a primary school education or lower. Mean age of PD cases was older than that of the general population , and cases had a lower level of education . Likewise, a higher proportion of PD cases were agricultural workers or were retired compared with the general population .

Most participants were never regular drinkers or occasional drinkers . However, PD cases reported lower mean levels of physical activity than all participants . While 61.2% of men were current smokers, only 5% of women smoked, hence, analyses of smoking were restricted to men. At baseline 5.9% of all participants had diabetes, 32% were overweight or obese , and 33.5% had hypertension.

What Causes Parkinsons Disease

Parkinsons disease is a chronic, progressive neurological disease that currently affects about 1 million Americans. Parkinsons disease involves a small, dark-tinged portion of the brain called the substantia nigra. This is where you produce most of the dopamine your brain uses. Dopamine is the chemical messenger that transmits messages between nerves that control muscle movements as well as those involved in the brains pleasure and reward centers. As we age, its normal for cells in the substantia nigra to die. This process happens in most people at a very slow rate.

But for some people, the loss happens rapidly, which is the start of Parkinsons disease. When 50 to 60 percent of the cells are gone, you begin to see the symptoms of Parkinsons.

Recommended Reading: Drinking And Parkinson’s Disease

How Soon After Treatment Will I Feel Better And How Long Will It Take To Recover

The time it takes to recover and see the effects of Parkinson’s disease treatments depends strongly on the type of treatments, the severity of the condition and other factors. Your healthcare provider is the best person to offer more information about what you can expect from treatment. The information they give you can consider any unique factors that might affect what you experience.

What Can I Expect If I Have This Condition

Parkinsons disease is a degenerative condition, meaning the effects on your brain get worse over time. However, this condition usually takes time to get worse. Most people have a normal life span with this condition.

You’ll need little to no help in the earlier stages and can keep living independently. As the effects worsen, youll need medication to limit how the symptoms affect you. Most medications, especially levodopa, are moderately or even very effective once your provider finds the minimum dose you need to treat your symptoms.

Most of the effects and symptoms are manageable with treatment, but the treatments become less effective and more complicated over time. Living independently will also become more and more difficult as the disease worsens.

How long does Parkinsons disease last?

Parkinsons disease isnt curable, which means its a permanent, life-long condition.

Whats the outlook for Parkinsons disease?

Parkinson’s disease isn’t fatal, but the symptoms and effects are often contributing factors to death. The average life expectancy for Parkinson’s disease in 1967 was a little under 10 years. Since then, the average life expectancy has increased by about 55%, rising to more than 14.5 years. That, combined with the fact that Parkinson’s diagnosis is much more likely after age 60, means this condition doesn’t often affect your life expectancy by more than a few years .

Read Also: Parkinson’s Disease Online Support Group

What Role Do Genes Play

Your genes are like your body’s instruction book. So if you get a change in one of them, it can make your body work in a slightly different way. Sometimes, that means you’re more likely to get a certain disease.

There are several genetic mutations that can raise your risk for Parkinson’s, each by a little bit. They have a part in about 1 in 10 cases.

If you have one or more of these changes, it doesn’t mean you’ll get Parkinson’s. Some people will, but many won’t, and doctors don’t know why. It may have to do with other genes or something in your environment.

What Causes The Condition

Although there are several recognized risk factors for Parkinsons disease, such as exposure to pesticides, for now, the only confirmed causes of Parkinsons disease are genetic. When Parkinsons disease isnt genetic, experts classify it as idiopathic . That means they dont know exactly why it happens.

Many conditions look like Parkinson’s disease but are instead parkinsonism from a specific cause like some psychiatric medications.

Familial Parkinsons disease

Parkinsons disease can have a familial cause, which means you can inherit it from one or both of your parents. However, this only makes up about 10% of all cases.

Experts have linked at least seven different genes to Parkinson’s disease. They’ve linked three of those to early-onset of the condition . Some genetic mutations also cause unique, distinguishing features.

Idiopathic Parkinsons disease

Experts believe idiopathic Parkinsons disease happens because of problems with how your body uses a protein called -synuclein . Proteins are chemical molecules that have a very specific shape. When some proteins dont have the correct shape a problem known as protein misfolding your body cant use them and can’t break them down.

With nowhere to go, the proteins build up in various places or in certain cells . The buildup of these Lewy bodies causes toxic effects and cell damage.

Induced Parkinsonism

The possible causes are:

Recommended Reading: Medication For Parkinson’s Psychosis

Search Strategy And Eligibility Criteria

This overview of SRs has been registered on PROSPERO . An SR on non-genetic risk factors for PD was included if it met all of the following criteria: 1) at least one risk factor for PD development had been investigated 2) the study design of included primary studies was clearly stated 3) at least one meta-analysis had been conducted to quantitatively synthesize the association between the risk factor and PD development.

An SR was excluded if it 1) focused on genetic factors involved in PD development 2) included animal studies or 3) was a commentary, editorial, letter, reply, protocol, or withdrawn article. When more than one SR with meta-analysis focused on the same factor, we compared the results to determine the consistency of qualitative conclusions. If the results were consistent, for example, if all indicated it was a protective factor for PD development, we retained the SR that included the largest number of original studies. Otherwise, all versions were kept to allow us to explore the reasons behind the inconsistency.

A comprehensive literature search was conducted using Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO through the Ovid platform from January 2011 to June 2020 without language restrictions. Specialized search filters were used to identify SRs , and we manually checked the reference lists of the included SRs for any others that may have been missed. The detailed search strategies are described in the Supplementary Material.

Incidence Of Hospitalized Cases Of Parkinson’s Disease

The incidence rate of PD was 13.3 per 100,000 person-years in all hospitalized participants , but incidence rate varied by age, sex, and region. The incidence rate increased with age from 1.6 per 100,000 person-years in those aged â¤50 years at baseline, to 48.8 per 100,000 person-years for participants over 70 years of age at baseline. PD incidence rates were higher in men than in women . Similarly, PD incidence rates were slightly higher in urban than in rural regions .

Variable

Sensitivity analyses excluding the first 3 years of follow-up did not alter the observed associations of smoking, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes with PD. However, sensitivity analysis revealed a higher risk of PD for overweight or obese vs. nonoverweight or obese participants . Analyses of overweight or obesity with PD in the subset of never smokers after adjustment for confounders and by exclusion of the first 3 years of follow-up were unaltered. Assuming overweight or obesity status is causal for an increased risk of PD, population attributable fractions based on the fully adjusted HR indicate that overweight or obesity accounted for approximately 7.9% of all hospitalized cases of PD.

You May Like: Can Parkinson’s Symptoms Be Something Else

Comparing Risk Factors Of Incident Pd And Ischemic Stroke

The comparisons of risk factors for PD and ischemic stroke are presented in Table and Fig. . Female sex was more protective for PD when compared with ischemic stroke . Smoking was positively associated with risk of ischemic stroke but was inversely associated with risk of PD . Age, diabetes, NLR, and FBG were the shared risk factors in PD and ischemic stroke , whereas HDL was a common protective factor for the two outcomes . In addition, hypertension was positively associated with the risk of ischemic stroke but was not significantly associated with the risk of PD . In contrast, LDL was inversely associated with the risk of PD but was not significantly associated with the risk of ischemic stroke .

In sensitivity analyses, similar results were observed when excluding those who developed both PD and coronary events or ischemic stroke during the follow-up .