Parkinson's: The newly discovered early symptoms that can appear up to 10 years before diagnosis

New research has identified two new early symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease, which can develop up to 10 years earlier. Let's find out what it is.

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According to a new one search, hearing loss and epilepsy are among the very first symptoms of Parkinson's. To reach this conclusion, the researchers used electronic health records from more than one million people living in East London between 1990 and 2018 to explore early symptoms and risk factors for the disease. (Read also: Parkinson's may soon be diagnosed with a simple eye test)

Scientists have found that the most well-known symptoms associated with Parkinson's, namely tremor and memory problems, may appear up to ten or five years before the actual diagnosis, respectively; but they also found out two very early new signs, namely epilepsy and hearing loss.

The focus of the new study is that it provides further evidence of risk factors and early signs of Parkinson's, using data from such a diverse and disadvantaged urban population for the first time; in fact, East London has one of the highest percentages of blacks, people of South Asian origin and mixed ethnic groups, comprising around 45% of the area's residents, compared to 14% in the rest of the UK; in addition, 80% of the patients included in the study were from low-income families. But that's not all, because in this area of London conditions likehypertension and type 2 diabetes have been associated with a higher chance of developing Parkinson's.

The lead author of the study, Dr Cristina Simonet, a neurologist and PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, commented:

This is the first study focusing on the pre-diagnostic phase of Parkinson's in such a diverse population with high socioeconomic deprivation but universal access to healthcare. So far, people from ethnic minorities and disadvantaged areas have been largely underrepresented in Parkinson's research, but for us to get the full picture we need the research to be inclusive and represent all those affected. Our findings uncovered new risk factors and early symptoms: epilepsy and hearing loss, so more research is now needed to fully understand the relationship. In the meantime, it is important that primary care physicians are aware of these links and understand how early Parkinson's symptoms can appear, so that patients can get a timely diagnosis.

This study confirms that many of the symptoms and very early signs of Parkinson's can occur several years before a diagnosis, and through research it is hoped to be able to identify high-risk people even before noticeable symptoms appear.

Photos: JAMA

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