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

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Haydeh Payami, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Gwendolyn Cohen, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Charles F. Murchison, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Timothy Sampson, Emory University; David G. Standaert, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Zachary D. Wallen, University of Alabama, Birmingham
• Language: English
• Date: 2023-12-05
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2023, The Author(s)
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-023-00603-z
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: npj Parkinson's Disease
• Volume: 9
• Start Page: 159
• Grant/Funding Information: Funding for data collection was provided by a grant from The U.S. Army Medical Research Materiel Command endorsed by the U.S. Army through the Parkinson’s Research Program Investigator-Initiated Research Award under Award No. W81XWH1810508 to Haydeh Payami. Time and effort spent on this project were funded by grants from Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s [ASAP-020527] through the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to Haydeh Payami and Timothy Sampson, NIH/NIEHS 1R01ES032440 to Timothy Sampson, and NIH/NINDS P50 NS108675 to David Standaert.
• Keywords: Parkinson's disease; Risk factors
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Toxicology; Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Environmental Sciences

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.