Healthy Considerations

Often thought of as an age-related illness reserved for the elderly, many people are surprised to hear that Parkinson’s disease can strike the young as well. It’s estimated that Parkinson’s affects about one percent of the population over the age of 50, although some studies bump this figure to one percent of people over the age of 65, and two percent over the age of 70. On the lower end, the Journal of Family Medicine suggests as high as five percent of Parkinson’s cases have been diagnosed in people under the age of 40.

“The average age of onset is 60 years of age, although 5% of patients are under age 40,” the Journal’s Matthew Stern has written. “The precise cause of Parkinson’s disease is not yet clear, but the disease is linked to the degeneration of dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra, a pigmented region in the ventral midbrain. The disease may have a lengthy preclinical course, perhaps 30 years or more, before the appearance of symptoms. It has been estimated that up to 80 percent of dopaminergic neurons are lost before the cardinal signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease first appear.”

There is no present cure of Parkinson’s disease, though treatments have advanced remarkably over the last decade. Today, there are medications available to control symptoms, and research into other treatment options such as stem cell therapy.

One of the keys to controlling Parkinson’s disease is early diagnosis. Unfortunately, this can sometimes present a problem since the vast majority of younger people believe the disease can’t strike them. As a result, early symptoms are often overlooked. In addition, the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s is often problematic because the symptoms and warning signs are similar to other, less serious conditions.

Again, the Journal of Family Practice weighs in on the issue, and notes that many cases of Parkinson’s remain undiagnosed:

“Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease, especially at an early stage, is challenging because the cardinal manifestations–resting and postural tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and postural instability–are not immediately distinguishable from a spectrum of syndromes and disease that make up a large and varied symptom complex now known as parkinsonism. Consequently, it is estimated that there are an additional 500,000 Americans who are in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease but who are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, and remain untreated.”

Small changes, such as mild changes in personality, slower writing ability, muscled pain, fatigue, or slight feelings of depression can all be signs of Parkinson’s that develop gradually over time without being particularly alarming or even noticeable. Even if such changes are noticed, they are often attributed to getting older and simply ignored.

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