Environmental risk factors for Parkinson’s disease

The epidemiology of PD includes many factors that have been identified as risk factors and protective factors, the balance of which, along with genetics, influences a person’s chance of developing PD.^1-4 The balance of these risks is often complex,³ and the way in which these various known/hypothesized risk and protective factors interact with genes is a growing field of research.⁴ Beyond genes, there is increasing interest in how these environmental factors may interact with the complex and changing epigenetics governing how the genes are expressed.⁴

References:
1.Ascherio A, Schwarzschild MA. The epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease: risk factors and prevention. Lancet Neurol 2016; 15 (12): 1257–1272.

2.Dorsey ER, Bloem BR. Parkinson’s disease is predominantly an environmental disease. J Parkinsons Dis 2024; 14 (3): 451–465.

3.Veronese N, Nova A, Fazia T, et al. Contribution of nutritional, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors to Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 2024; 39 (7): 1203–1212.

4.Elbaz A, Carcaillon L, Kab S, Moisan F. Epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease. Revue Neurologique 2016; 172: 14–26.