Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurologic disorders and the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the world.  The pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease is quite well understood, albeit not completely. Dopaminergic neurons particularly in the substantia nigra, a part of the brain, becomes damaged gradually die leading to lower than normal levels of the brain hormone dopamine. Although this is known, the exact cause of this damage and cell death is not clearly understood. Risk factors including certain genetic mutations have been identified. However, these risks account for only a small proportion of PD cases. Analyzing the incidence and distribution of any disease also helps to provide clues to those at risk based on demographics despite not having any of the known risk factors. The study of this incidence of a disease is known as epidemiology.

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Understanding Parkinson’s disease

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. (more…)