[PHNUTR-L] Risk of Parkinson's disease increases with pesticide exposure and head trauma

[Kathrynne Holden]

Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my own
opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic. If you do not wish to
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Public release date: 29-May-2007
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/bsj-rop052907.php

Contact: Rebecca Spargo
rspargo at bma.org.uk
020-738-36174
BMJ Specialty Journals

Risk of Parkinson's disease increases with pesticide exposure and head 
trauma

Environmental risk factors for Parkinson's disease and Parkinsonism: the 
Geoparkinson study

Exposure to pesticides and traumatic head injury may have a causative 
role in Parkinson's disease, according to a study published online ahead 
of print in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

And the risk of developing Parkinson's disease increases according to 
the level of exposure, the results showed.

The two risk factors are potentially modifiable, the authors say. Head 
trauma resulting from contact sports such as boxing can be avoided and 
further research could identify more specifically which pesticides are 
associated with this effect, so that these agents can be substituted.

People who had been exposed to low levels of pesticides were found to be 
1.13 times as likely to have Parkinson's disease compared with those who 
had never been exposed. Those who had been exposed to high levels of 
pesticides were 1.41 times as likely to be affected.

Parkinson's disease occurred 1.35 times more frequently in people who 
had been knocked unconscious once compared with those who had never been 
knocked out, and arose 2.53 times more frequently in those who had been 
knocked out more frequently.

The European Commission funded study is one of the largest case-control 
studies to date of genetic, environmental and occupational risk factors 
for Parkinson's disease or other degenerative parkinsonian syndromes. It 
involved 959 prevalent cases of parkinsonism (767 with Parkinson's 
disease) and 1989 controls recruited in Scotland, Italy, Sweden, Romania 
and Malta.

Cases were defined using the UK Parkinson's Disease Society Brain Bank 
criteria. Patients with drug-induced or vascular parkinsonism or 
dementia were excluded.

Subjects completed a questionnaire regarding their lifetime occupational 
and recreational exposure to solvents, pesticides, iron, copper and 
manganese. Their lifetime exposure was then estimated blind to disease 
status and the results were adjusted, as appropriate, for age, sex, 
country of residence, tobacco use, ever having been knocked unconscious 
and family history of Parkinson's disease.
-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
"Ask the Parkinson Dietitian"  http://www.parkinson.org/
"Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease"
"Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy"
http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/