Are You At Risk For Parkinson’s Disease?

There are a number of risk factors that have been identified and accepted by the medical community. Would you like to know in advance if you have any of the risk factors for this chronic and progressive disease?

Risk factors:

The disease generally develops in around age 60 or after. Occasionally someone younger than 50 develop the Parkinson’s but that is not the usual case. The risk for developing the disease increases as you age. It is thought that there is neural damage that worsens with age, which is why the disease manifests itself at the later stage of life.

Another risk factor is sex. Although both males and females develop Parkinson’s, males are more likely to get it than females possibly because males are exposed to toxins or head trauma more than females are.

Family history may also be a factor. If there are one or more family members who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s your likelihood of developing it increases. There just could be a genetic link to developing the disease.

Females who are post-menopausal and who do not use hormone replacement therapy are also at risk for Parkinson’s. Women who have had hysterectomies are also at an increased risk for the disease.

Individuals having been exposed to environmental toxins such as herbicides or pesticides are at greater risk for Parkinson’s. Farmers are exposed to these toxins and therefore are at increased risk for Parkinson’s disease.

It is amazing that studies that help identify risks may also help slow or even stop the progression of the disease for instance studies have shown that those with a more active gene alpha-synuclein had a 1.5 times greater risk for Parkinson’s and those finding support the development of alpha-synuclein suppressing therapies which would then slow or even stop the progression of Parkinson’s.

Did you know that a 2007 study links trauma to the upper cervical spine, neck and head to Parkinson’s. Studies showed that in some cases the disease developed years after the trauma took place even as long as decades.

Even if you have more than one of the above risk factors you may still not experience Parkinson’s and one of the risk factors we all possess and that is that of aging.

Studies are important to any disease but especially for those where there is little hope of a cure because the more we know about a disease the better we can get at treating the symptoms, and predicting who is likely to contract the disease so that individuals can do all they can to become healthy so as to perhaps counteract some of the affects of the disease before they develop it. Knowing the risk factors is always something important to know in advance so that you can be as prepared as possible. Knowing the risk factors may also influence those with high risk factors to make lifestyle improvements that may actually lower their risk for Parkinson’s.

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