Several sources are citing a recent study that seems to see a connection between Parkinsons risk and environmental issues.
Cruising the net this week, I found Parkinson's disease a big topic of conversation. Seems a recent study from Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Aberdeen University Medical School, Aberdeen, U.K., may show a new place to look for causes.
Parkinson's is a condition that affects about 4 million people worldwide. Seems to be equal between men and women and hits people over 65 more often than younger people. The illness causes tremors, difficulty in moving limbs, facial tics. It's incurable and progressive.
According to an article from Yahoo News people with Parkinson's often had low to moderate exposure to pesticides in their medical history, or head trauma in their past. Researchers think people who were knocked unconscious once in their life, may have had 35% more likelihood of the illness. The implications there seem to be pretty relevant for boxers, sports players and the like.
The pesticide factor had less of a pronounced connection but still merits further study, they say. There also seems to be a genetic connection. Nothing is conclusive here. It's a set of pointers, evidently, for more research. But if your lifestyle connects with these things, you might talk with your doc - it never hurts.
The study is in the online May 30 edition of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Most likely the entire study would bore most of us to sleep, but the articles at Yahoo, news that seems to echo info from several years ago at Mayo, might prove interesting.
