The biggest single risk factor associated with contracting Parkinson’s disease is old age; men also stand a higher chance of it than do women. Family history is also another factor particularly when a first generation family member has the disease, if this family member is a parent or sibling then chances are estimated to double for yourself to developing the disease. It is thought that this increased risk is due to a number of factors including genetic and environmental which close relations have in common.

The one single factor which has been most consistently associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease is smoking, the exact reasons for this has never been determined but smoking does seem to offer some protection against developing Parkinson’s disease. However the negative effects that smoking has on our health far outweighs the benefit of not developing Parkinson’s from smoking, it should by no means be considered as a way of preventing the disease.

Environmental causes of Parkinson’s disease

Most cases of Parkinson’s disease are thought to come about as a result of environmental factors and possible interactions of genes. Environmental factors such as the build up of weak toxins may eventually lead to Parkinson’s in those people who are genetically predisposed. The actual identity of these toxins is unknown but several risk factors due to the environment have been identified through epidemiological studies.

One factor that is persistent however is the finding that rural living, exposure to drinking water from wells and agricultural work increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. This could suggest that pesticides and herbicides might play a crucial role or at the very least contribute to the development of the disease.

However it should be remembered all these factors by no means will determine that you will develop Parkinson’s disease because many people who are constantly confronted with these factors never do develop the illness.

The role genetics play

While there are several genes that are thought to contribute to Parkinson’s disease it should be noted that they are a factor which only accounts for a very small amount of the cases diagnosed. One of the most noted genes is called the parkin; this gene creates a protein which it was named after, parkin.

Its role is to help breakdown defective proteins inside the brain cells, when the gene is altered this leads to function impairment. For a person to develop Parkinson’s disease two altered copies of parkin are needed.

This type of inheritance is called autosomal recessive and requires that one copy of the recessive gene is inherited from each parent. Developing Parkinson’s disease this way usually occurs with people in their 40`s, with parkin being the most common of genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease.

Millions of people throughout the world suffer every year from chronic allergies; these can be allergies from their pets, to dust and spores. A recent study has shown that these people who suffer from chronic allergies are up to three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease at some time in their life.

Sufferers of allergic rhinitis which is an allergy in which the sufferer seems to have a permanent cold appear to be at much greater risk of developing Parkinson’s. The research conducted gathered information which showed a link to conditions which cause inflammation and breakdown of brain cells and found a decidedly big increase in cell death in people suffering from rhinitis.

This research is indeed worrying as there are thought to be over five million people in the UK alone who suffer from perennial allergic rhinitis, a condition which more often than not is triggered by allergens such as the house dust mite, skin flakes from pets and spores.

Researchers are now speculating that the inflammation which is caused by the allergy may release certain chemicals into the brain which inadvertently kill brain cells, which is exactly what happens in Parkinson’s disease. Scientists however did stress however that the study didn’t prove that allergies were a cause of Parkinson’s disease but rather that there was an association between the two.

The study primarily came about from another study which showed that people who took anti inflammatory drugs on a regular basis were less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. The concluding results of this test then prompted scientists to look deeper into the link between Parkinson’s and diseases which are characterised by inflammation.

The study was made looking at 196 people who had developed Parkinson’s disease and matched them with people of a similar age and sex who didn’t have Parkinson’s, they were then studied over a period of 20 years.

Both of the groups were then examined to find out if the people suffering from Parkinson have had more inflammatory diseases, from this study scientists concluded that those who had allergic rhinitis were 2.9 times more likely to go on to develop Parkinson’s disease.

Therefore the association with getting Parkinson’s disease is increased to almost three times as much as that of someone who doesn’t suffer from allergic rhinitis, which scientists said was a very high elevation.

It is thought that people who have allergic rhinitis mount an immune response with their allergy so that they become more likely to mount that same response in the brain as well, which then would lead to inflammation. The brain then responds by releasing certain chemicals which then inadvertently kill cells in the brain the same as is seen in Parkinson’s disease.