Parkinson disease risks: correctly identifying environmental factors for a chronic disease

Parkinson disease (PD) is now the world's fastest growing brain disease; however, the factors underlying this rise are unclear. The past 25 years has witnessed a vast expansion in our understanding of the genetics of PD, but few individuals with PD carry one of the major known genetic risk fact...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of clinical investigation Vol. 131; no. 11
Main Authors Kieburtz, Karl, Dorsey, E. Ray
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Society for Clinical Investigation 01.06.2021
Subjects
Environmental health
Genetic susceptibility
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Parkinson's disease
Risk factors
United States
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Summary:Parkinson disease (PD) is now the world's fastest growing brain disease; however, the factors underlying this rise are unclear. The past 25 years has witnessed a vast expansion in our understanding of the genetics of PD, but few individuals with PD carry one of the major known genetic risk factors. Environmental factors, including individual (e.g., medications) and ambient (e.g., pollutants), may contribute to this rise. In this issue of the JCI, Sasane et al. examined the risk of PD associated with medications commonly used to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy. In contrast with previous studies, certain [[alpha].sub.1] receptor antagonists failed to lower PD risk. Rather, the commonly used comparator drug, tamsulosin, increased PD risk. This finding highlights the importance of selecting comparator groups to correctly identify risk factors. Future studies to address the rise of PD with emphasis on both individual as well as the understudied ambient environmental factors are warranted.
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ISSN:1558-8238
0021-9738
1558-8238
DOI:10.1172/JCI150252