Scientists from the Aarhus University Hospital found that people who have had a heart attack may be slightly less likely than people in the general population to develop Parkinson’s disease later in life.
The research is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and was conducted by Jens Sundbøll et al.
Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder characterized by progressive loss of physical movement, including tremors, slow or slurred speech, and/or stiffness or limited range of motion for walking and other physical activities.
There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, and it is also associated with behavioral changes, depression, memory loss, and fatigue.
Secondary parkinsonism, which has symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, may be caused by stroke, psychiatric or cardiovascular medications, or other illnesses.
In the study, the team compared the risk of Parkinson’s disease and secondary parkinsonism among about 182,000 patients who had a first-time heart attack between 1995 and 2016.
Over a follow-up of 21 years, the team found that there was a 20% lower risk of Parkinson’s disease among people who had a heart attack, and a 28% lower risk of secondary parkinsonism among those who had a heart attack.
The team says for doctors treating patients following a heart attack, cardiac rehabilitation should be focused on preventing ischemic stroke, vascular dementia, and other cardiovascular diseases such as a new heart attack and heart failure.
This is because the risk of Parkinson’s appears to be decreased in these patients, in comparison to the general population.
Heart attack and Parkinson’s disease share certain risk factors, with a higher risk found among elderly men and a lower risk among people who drink more coffee and are more physically active.
Interestingly, however, some classic risk factors for a heart attack—such as smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes—are linked to a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.
In general, more heart attack patients smoke and have elevated cholesterol, either of which may explain the slightly reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease among heart attack survivors.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about new way to repair the human heart, and hormones that could help reduce irregular heartbeat, and inflammation.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about simple exercise that could strongly benefit people with heart problems, and results showing one cup of these vegetables a day can lower heart disease risk.
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