Multiple studies find new early signs of Parkinson's disease

Researchers at Queen Mary's College, funded by the Butt Charity, used the electronic primary care records of more than a million people living in east London between 1990 and 2018 to explore early symptoms and risk factors for Parkinson's disease

The researchers found that known symptoms associated with Parkinson's, including tremors and memory problems, appeared 10 and 5 years before diagnosis, respectively

Although early symptoms of Parkinson's disease have been described before, these studies have largely focused on affluent white populations, minority patients, and those living in areas of high social deprivation who have so far been studied in Parkinson's disease not fully represented

In East London, conditions such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes have been linked to an increased chance of developing Parkinson's disease

East London has one of the highest proportions of black, South Asian and other racially mixed populations, accounting for around 45% of residents in the area, compared with just 14% in the rest of the UK

Lead author of the study, neuroscientist Dr Christina Simonette, a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, commented: "This is the first study to look at the pre-diagnostic stages of Parkinson's disease with such diverse subjects.

"Our findings reveal new risk factors and early symptoms: epilepsy and hearing loss

Dr Alastair Noyce, a reader in neurology and neuroepidemiology at Queen Mary University of London and one of the authors of the new study, continued: "People bring See a GP with symptoms, but usually don't get a diagnosis until 5 to 10 years later

"This study confirms that many of the symptoms and early features of Parkinson's disease may appear long before diagnosis

PREDICT-PD is a large research project funded by Parkinson's in the UK to identify people at high risk of developing the disease

Shafaq Hussain-Ali, a former East London native of Pakistani Punjabi who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease three years ago, is a member of the UK's Racial Equality Steering Group

"What I want to tell you is that young Asians like me may be affected by this disease, and many more people may be affected by young-onset Parkinson's in the future

Journal Reference :

1. Cristina Simonet, Jonathan Bestwick, Mark Jitlal, Sheena Waters, Aaron Ben-Joseph, Charles R.