Unraveling the complexities of Parkinson's disease

New research highlights a potential link to gut health

Many fates are difficult to imagine. One of the most harrowing, to me, is Parkinson’s disease (PD). Given how much time I spend moving my body, a future where I lose control over motor movements is frightening.

We can’t always control the future, but when it comes to health, we can do the best we can to stave off diseases associated with aging. A new study in JAMA Network Open offers a bit more insight into how PD develops—though, to be clear, it’s in the early stages of discovery.

Researchers uncovered a potential link between upper gastrointestinal mucosal damage and an increased risk of developing PD. This finding could shed new light on the disease’s origins and open up new avenues for early detection and prevention.

The team followed 9,350 patients who underwent upper endoscopies between 2000-05. They found that volunteers with mucosal damage (erosions, ulcers, other injuries to the lining of the upper digestive tract) were 76% more likely to be diagnosed with PD later in life.

This association remained strong even after accounting for factors like age, sex, and pre-existing health conditions. On average, it took 14 years from the detection of mucosal damage to a PD diagnosis. If the reliability of this connection bears out, a long window of opportunity for potential interventions opens up.

And that’s important given the disturbing rise in PD in the last few decades.

Growing concern

In 1855, approximately 22 out of 15M in England and Wales died from Parkinson's. By 2014, between 5,000-10,000 out of 65M in the UK suffered the same fate.

This tracks with a global rise: from 1990-2015, the number of people with PD increased by 118% to 6.2M. A 2022 Parkinson's Foundation study found that nearly 90,000 people are diagnosed every year in the US—a 50% increase from the previously estimated rate of 60,000 annual diagnoses.

The future isn’t looking brighter: by 2040, the number of people suffering from PD is projected to exceed 12M around the world. Some estimates suggest this number could exceed 17M due to factors like increasing longevity, declining smoking rates, and increasing industrialization.

Regardless of reasons, there’s been a substantial rise in prevalence and incidence: PD has transformed from a rare condition in the early 1800s to a significant global health concern today.

Let’s look a little deeper into the reasons why that could be.