Parkinson's disease

Risk factors for Parkinson's disease

Some things can increase your chance of getting Parkinson's disease. Doctors call these things risk factors.

If you have one of the following risk factors, keep in mind that this doesn't mean that you will get the disease. It just means your chance of getting it is higher than someone who doesn't have the risk factors.

Getting older: The average age for symptoms to start is about 60.

Source:
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Parkinson's disease: hope through research.
March 2009. Available at http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/parkinsons_disease/detail_parkinsons_disease.htm (accessed on 2 April 2009).

¹ You can get Parkinson's while you're still in your 30s, but this is rare. Less than 1 in 10 people with Parkinson's get symptoms before they're 40.
Being male: Slightly more men get Parkinson's. But we don't know why.

Source:
de Rijk MC, Tzourio C, Breteler MM, et al.
Prevalence of Parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease in Europe: the EUROPARKINSON Collaborative Study.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 1997; 62: 10-15.

²
Not smoking: If you smoke, you're slightly less likely to get Parkinson's than if you don't smoke. Again, we don't know why this is.

Source:
de Rijk MC, Tzourio C, Breteler MM, et al.
Prevalence of Parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease in Europe: the EUROPARKINSON Collaborative Study.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 1997; 62: 10-15.

² But no doctor would recommend you start smoking to reduce your chance of getting Parkinson's.
Having Parkinson's in your family: If your father, mother or one of your brothers or sisters has Parkinson's, you're slightly more likely to get it than someone who doesn't have the disease in his or her family.

Source:
Ben-Shlomo Y.
How far are we in understanding the cause of Parkinson's disease?
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 1996; 61: 4-16.

³

Source:
Marder K, Tang MX, Mejia H, et al.
Risk of Parkinson's disease among first-degree relatives: a community-based study.
Neurology. 1996; 47: 155-160.

⁴

Source:
Jarman P, Wood N.
Parkinson's disease genetics comes of age.
BMJ. 1999; 318: 1641-1642.

⁵ Some types of Parkinson's, especially those that appear before the age of 40, may be passed down in your family through

genes
Your genes are the parts of your cells that contain instructions for how your body works. Genes are housed on chromosomes, structures that sit in the nucleus at the middle of each of your cells. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes in your normal cells, each of which has thousands of genes. You get one set of chromosomes, and all of the genes that are on them, from each of your parents.

genes.

Source:
Lazzarini AM, Myers RH, Zimmerman TR Jr, et al.
A clinical genetic study of Parkinson's disease: evidence for dominant transmission.
Neurology. 1994; 44: 499-506.

⁶ But this isn't common. Only about 1 in 20 people with Parkinson's have this type of the disease. Parkinson's more often happens in families where no one has had it before.

Doctors have looked at many other things to see whether they might be linked to Parkinson's disease. For example, some research suggests you may be more likely to get Parkinson's if:

Source:
de Rijk MC, Tzourio C, Breteler MM, et al.
Prevalence of Parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease in Europe: the EUROPARKINSON Collaborative Study.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 1997; 62: 10-15.

You work with pesticides and other chemicals
You've had a head injury.

But more research is needed to know for sure if these things increase your risk of Parkinson's.

Sources for the information on this page:

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Parkinson's disease: hope through research.March 2009. Available at http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/parkinsons_disease/detail_parkinsons_disease.htm (accessed on 2 April 2009).

de Rijk MC, Tzourio C, Breteler MM, et al.Prevalence of Parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease in Europe: the EUROPARKINSON Collaborative Study.Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 1997; 62: 10-15.

Ben-Shlomo Y.How far are we in understanding the cause of Parkinson's disease?Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 1996; 61: 4-16.

Marder K, Tang MX, Mejia H, et al.Risk of Parkinson's disease among first-degree relatives: a community-based study.Neurology. 1996; 47: 155-160.

Jarman P, Wood N.Parkinson's disease genetics comes of age.BMJ. 1999; 318: 1641-1642.

Lazzarini AM, Myers RH, Zimmerman TR Jr, et al.A clinical genetic study of Parkinson's disease: evidence for dominant transmission.Neurology. 1994; 44: 499-506.

This information was last updated on Apr 14, 2009

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2009. All rights reserved.

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