This doesn't sound like a very conclusive test, however...
Test measures Parkinson's disease risk
NEW YORK, Mar 09, 1999 (Reuters Health) -- A series of tests may help
identify those who carry genes that put them at risk for Parkinson's
disease (PD), according to a study in the March 10th issue of Neurology,
the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Study author Dr. Erwin Montgomery, Jr., of the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation in Ohio, and colleagues found that a group of siblings and
children of PD patients were more likely to score poorly on diagnostic
tests than a group with no family history of PD.
These tests -- which measure motor function, sense of smell and mood --
have been shown to effectively distinguish mildly affected PD patients
from unaffected patients.
Twenty-three percent of the 80 first-degree relatives had ''abnormal''
test scores, compared with only 9% of the group with no family history
of the disease.
Among the children of PD patients whose scores were abnormal, the
affected parent was more often their father than mother, the researchers
found.
But many of those with abnormal scores will not go on to develop PD,
point out the researchers, because the percentage of abnormal scores
exceeded recorded rates of PD.
``It is impossible to know at this point'' which of the individual
test-takers with abnormal scores will go on to develop PD, note
Montgomery and colleagues. But the test series may help detect carriers
of PD, or those in the very early stages of the disease.
``With this test, we can identify people who have the gene but don't
have the disease, which will allow us to do genetic linkage studies,''
said Montgomery in a press statement.
``This greatly improves our chances of finding the type of genetic
abnormality that underlies the vast majority of Parkinson's patients we
treat every day,'' he added.
SOURCE: Neurology 1999;2:757-762.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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