13th October 2014 - New research

AIR POLLUTION AND PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Exposure to air pollution has been implicated as a cause of Parkinson's Disease. The first prominent descriptions of Parkinson's Disease came at the time of the Industrial Revolution when pollution levels escalated. Yet, no prospective study has examined the association between particulate matter and the risk of Parkinson's Disease.

After adjusting for age in months, smoking, region, population density, caffeine and ibuprofen intake, there was found to be no statistically significant associations between exposure to air pollution and the risk of Parkinson's Disease. The relative risk of Parkinson's Disease was 1.08 for pollution particles that were less than 2.5 microns in diameter, 0.92 for pollution particles that were 2.5 to 10.0 microns in diameter, and 0.99 for pollution particles that were more than 10.0 microns in diameter. These likelihoods are little different from what would be expected normally.

There are areas of the world where pollution is definitely a serious cause of Parkinson's Disease. One of the world's highest prevalences of Parkinson's Disease is in the vicinities of ferromanganese plants near Brescia in Italy. Manganese concentrations in settled dust were found to be significantly higher in the surroundings and downwind from the ferromanganese plants. In high concentrations, manganese is a known cause of Parkinson's Disease.

Reference : Environmental Health [2014] 13 (1) : 80 [Epub ahead of print] (N.Palacios, K.C.Fitzgerald, J.E.Hart, M.G.Weisskopf, M.A.Schwarzschild, A.Ascherio, F.Laden) Complete abstract  For more news go to Parkinson's Disease News

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