In France, approximately 100,000 people suffer from Parkinson’s disease. This neurodegenerative pathology corresponds to the destruction of certain neurons (dopamine neurons), which leads to brain disturbances and (at least) 3 specific symptoms in patients:akinesia (understand: slowness of movement, especially walking),hypertonia (an excessive rigidity of the muscles which results in particular in a leaning forward posture) and the tremors (present in 30% of patients, they mainly affect the hands and arms).
Age, pesticides and genetics: risk factors for Parkinson’s disease
Science has identified several factors that increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. First of all, age : this pathology is extremely rare before the age of 45, and occurs rather around the age of 65-70. Afterwards, pesticides : several studies have shown that farmers exposed to organochlorine type insecticides have an increased risk of suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Finally, genetic : there is a genetic susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease, but it is relatively low.
According to a recent study by the University of Turku (in Finland), people who suffer from schizophrenia would also have an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease around the age of 65-70. To reach this conclusion, the Finnish scientists followed 25,000 patients with schizophrenia between 1996 and 2019. They found that these patients developed more Parkinson’s disease than the average.
The researchers (who published their work in the specialized journal Movement Disorders) hypothesize that schizophrenia is responsible for a disruption of the dopaminergic system in the brain – the very one that is progressively destroyed in the context of Parkinson’s disease, which would favor the occurrence of this degenerative pathology.
As a reminder, in France, 600,000 people suffer from schizophrenia: this psychiatric disease generally manifests itself between the ages of 15 and 25, and affects both men and women.
Source : Inserm
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