In a new study from the Queen Mary University of London, researchers found hearing loss and epilepsy are early features of Parkinson’s.
They used electronic primary healthcare records from over a million people living in East London between 1990 and 2018 to explore early symptoms and risk factors for Parkinson’s.
The researchers found that known symptoms associated with Parkinson’s, including tremor and memory problems, can appear up to ten and five years before diagnosis respectively.
They also uncovered two new early features of Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and hearing loss, and were able to replicate these findings using additional data from the UK Biobank.
The new study provides further evidence of risk factors and early signs of Parkinson’s, using data from such a diverse and deprived urban population for the first time.
In the study, the team found in East London, conditions like hypertension and Type 2 diabetes were associated with increased odds of developing Parkinson’s.
There was a stronger association between memory complaints within this population than previously described.
This study confirms that many of the symptoms and early features of Parkinson’s can occur long before a diagnosis.
The team hopes to identify people at high risk of Parkinson’s even before obvious symptoms appear—which means that they could do more than just improve quality of life for patients, and perhaps be in the position to slow down or cure Parkinson’s in the future.
They say that more people are likely to be affected by young-onset Parkinson’s in the future.
Getting an early diagnosis can make such a difference to the quality of life and Parkinson’s progression.
With appropriate management, people can carry on living well and have a productive life.
If you care about Parkinson’s disease, please read studies about high blood pressure drugs that may prevent dementia, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and coffee may help fight common dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
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The study is published in JAMA Neurology and was conducted by Dr. Cristina Simonet et al.
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