 |
 |
Depression associated with subsequent risk for Parkinson's disease Last Updated: 2002-05-27 16:00:11 -0400 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A diagnosis of depression is associated with a three-fold higher incidence of Parkinson's disease, Dutch investigators report in the May 28th issue of Neurology. The study authors suggest that depression may actually represent the first clinical manifestation of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Marjan van den Akker, of Maastricht University, and colleagues searched the Registration Network Family Practices (RNH) database for patients diagnosed between 1975 and 1990 with depressive disorder or affective psychosis. They identified 1,358 subjects diagnosed for the first time after the age of 19. The investigators matched the depressed subjects with a reference group of 67,570 nondepressed subjects with the same year of birth. By the year 2000, Parkinson's disease was diagnosed in 278 subjects, including 1.4% of those with a history of depression and 0.4% of the reference group. After correcting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, the hazard ratio for Parkinson's disease was 3.13 for the depressed individuals compared with the nondepressed subjects. Dr. van den Akker's team theorizes that reduced serotonin activity, as a compensatory mechanism for a reduction in dopamine activity, exists before the onset of motor symptoms in patients with PD. Thus, these patients may have a biologic vulnerability to depression. Neurology 2002;58:1501-1504. Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2002/05/27/professional/links/20020527e pid005.html janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit primarily perky, parky pd: 55/41/37 cd: 55/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] smail: 375 Country Street, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 a new voice website: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn