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Parkinson's Disease
What are the risk factors?
Currently, it is impossible to predict who will get Parkinson's disease, and there is no known method for preventing its occurrence. The disease is believed to affect both men and women almost equally. Currently, age is one of the main risk factors for the disease. Most of those affected do not experience symptoms until after age 50. However, 5-10% of patients have a subset of Parkinson's disease known as young-onset Parkinson's disease, which affects those under age 40. Two gene mutations have been identified in patients with this type of Parkinson?s Disease. Although the condition is clinically the same, treatment options may differ.
As mentioned previously, the disease is thought to result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Exposure to pesticides and other toxins has been suspected as a potential risk factor, but this has not yet been proven as a causative factor. In fact, many Parkinson?s patients have never been in contact with these products.
It is unclear whether the disease is an inherited problem. 5-10% of Parkinson?s disease patients have members of their family with the same condition, but no single gene has been found that is mutated in all patients with Parkinson?s disease. In studies of identical twins, it appears that there is a genetic link for young-onset Parkinson?s disease, but not for Parkinson?s disease that affects those over 60 years.
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What are the risk factors?
