Having an operation for appendicitis increases the risk of having Parkinson’s disease.
Those who have had appendicitis surgery are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study which will be presented at the Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2019. Note that previous research has stated the opposite.
“Recent research into the cause of Parkinson’s disease has focused on alpha-synuclein, a protein that lodges in the gastrointestinal tract at the onset of the pathology”, explains Mohammed Z. Sheriff, director of the study. “That is why scientists all over the world have looked to the gastrointestinal tract in search of additional evidence on the origin of the Parkinson’s disease,” he added.
Three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease
Here, scientists analyzed electronic medical records of 62.2 million patients. Among them, they identified those who had been operated on for appendicitis, then diagnosed with Parkinson’s at least six months later.
Of the 488,190 patients who had appendicitis removed, 4,470 (0.92%) had developed Parkinson’s disease. Of the remaining 61.7 million patients, 177,230 patients (0.29%) developed the neurodegenerative pathology. According to this analysis, patients who had undergone surgery were therefore three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than the others.
“This research shows a clear link between appendicitis and Parkinson’s disease, but it is only an association,” concludes Dr Sheriff. “Further research is needed to confirm this link and better understand the mechanisms involved,” he concludes.
“epidemic” of disease
Affecting today about 200,000 people in France and more than a million in Europe, Parkinson’s disease became the 2and most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. A considerable increase in the number of patients in the space of 2 centuries which makes researchers fear an “epidemic” of the disease.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative pathology characterized by the destruction of a specific population of neurons, the dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra of the brain. Current treatments control the motor symptoms associated with the disease, but they have no effect on other symptoms and on the progression of degeneration.*
*Source: Inserm.
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