FRIDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Parkinson's disease has
been linked to exposure to pesticides in a new study comparing
people with the neurological disorder and their unaffected
relatives.
The study, published online in the open-access journal
BMC Neurology, found the strongest ties to the use of
herbicides and insecticides, such as organochlorides and
organophosphates. Drinking well water or living or working on a
farm, two common experiences for pesticide exposures, did not
appear to be associated with Parkinson's.
Many Parkinson's disease cases are thought to be due to an
interaction between genetic and environmental factors. By studying
related individuals who share environmental and genetic
backgrounds, researchers said they could identify specific
differences in exposures between individuals with and without the
disease.
"Previous studies have shown that individuals with Parkinson's
disease are over twice as likely to report being exposed to
pesticides as unaffected individuals, but few studies have looked
at this association in people from the same family or have assessed
associations between specific classes of pesticides and Parkinson's
disease," study author Dana Hancock said in a prepared
statement.
Researchers from both Duke University Medical Center and the
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine interviewed 319
Parkinson's patients and more than 200 of their relatives to get
details about whether they ever were exposed to pesticides, lived
or worked on a farm, or drank water from wells.
Parkinson's disease, which affects about 1 million people in the
United States, is characterized by symptoms such as tremors and
muscle rigidity. Several gene variations have been tagged as
contributing to the disease, but these rare defects account for a
small proportion of those affected by disorder.
While several other studies have supported pesticides as a risk
factor for Parkinson's, "biological evidence is presently
insufficient to conclude that pesticide exposure causes PD,"
Hancock said.
"Further investigation of these specific pesticides and others
may lead to identification of pertinent biological pathways
influencing PD development," he said.
More information
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more about
pesticide safety.
