Health Reporter Posted August 31 Report Share Posted August 31 These Four GI Conditions May Predict Parkinson's Disease Medscape Dysphagia, gastroparesis, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome without diarrhea specifically predicted Parkinson's disease (PD) in a new study. Early detection of these conditions might help identify patients at risk for PD, potentially prompting preventive strategies, the researchers suggest. The results of previous experimental studies by the team supported the Braak hypothesis, which states that idiopathic PD originates in the gut in a subset of patients. However, no previous study had investigated a broad range of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and syndromes that might occur prior to a PD diagnosis. Given their preclinical work, the authors were not surprised to find that certain GI syndromes were specifically associated with PD, even when compared with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD), principal author Pankaj Jay Pasricha, MBBS, MD, of Mayo Clinic Arizona, Scottsdale, told Medscape Medical News. However, they were "impressed by the strength of the associations." "Experts have known for a very long time that constipation is a potential risk factor for PD, so this study adds to the list of GI conditions that could potentially be risk factors," he said. View the full article View the original research (PDF) (BMJ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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