Population fraction of Parkinson's disease attributable to preventable risk factors

Haydeh Payami; Gwendolyn Cohen; Charles F Murchison; Timothy R Sampson; David G Standaert; Zachary D Wallen

doi:10.1038/s41531-023-00603-z

Population fraction of Parkinson's disease attributable to preventable risk factors

NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2023 Dec 5;9(1):159. doi: 10.1038/s41531-023-00603-z.

Authors

Haydeh Payami^{1

2}, Gwendolyn Cohen^{3

4}, Charles F Murchison^{3

4

5}, Timothy R Sampson^{4

6}, David G Standaert^{3

4}, Zachary D Wallen^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35233, USA. haydehpayami@uabmc.edu.
² Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815, USA. haydehpayami@uabmc.edu.
³ Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35233, USA.
⁴ Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815, USA.
⁵ Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35233, USA.
⁶ Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA.

Abstract

Parkinson's disease is the fastest-growing neurologic disease with seemingly no means of prevention. Intrinsic risk factors (age, sex, and genetics) are inescapable, but environmental factors are not. We identified repeated blows to the head in sports/combat as a potential new risk factor. 23% of PD cases in females were attributable to pesticide/herbicide exposure, and 30% of PD in males were attributable to pesticides/herbicides, military-related chemical exposures, and repeated blows to the head, and therefore could have potentially been prevented.

Abstract

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