Patient/caregiver was educated on causes and risk factors for Parkinson’s Disease as follows:
- Parkinson’s disease involves damage to the various nerve cells in the brain producing chemicals, such as, dopamine, acetylcholine, and serotonin.
- Damage to these neurons results not only in deficiency of various chemicals in the brain, but also an imbalance in between these chemicals. This results in problems with the overall movement, motor skills, mood, and memory of affected individuals.
- Cause of damage to these neurons is clearly unknown, but could be secondary to factors as follows:
- Age: Risk for Parkinson’s could increase with individuals aged 60 and above.
- Sex: Men are at increased risk compared against women for presentation with Parkinson’s.
- Family history: Risk for Parkinson’s increases slightly with individuals having close family and relatives diagnosed with the same.
- Smoking: Risk for Parkinson’s is directly proportional to an individual’s smoking history. The chronic smoker an individual is, the higher is believed the risk for presentation with Parkinson’s in the later years.
- Head injuries: Risk for Parkinson’s is believed to steeply increase with individuals having history of frequent head injuries. Individuals with increased risk for occupational exposure to head injuries, such as, boxers, race car drivers, American football players, etc., have higher risk for presentation with Parkinson’s in the later years.
- Exposure to metals: Occupational exposure to metals, such as, lead, mercury, and copper can occur with individuals working in the mining industry and in plants manufacturing paints, mirrors, thermometers, alloys, and fluorescent lights. Exposure to these metals is believed to enhance the risk for presentation with Parkinson’s in later years.
- Exposure to chemicals: Exposure to various chemicals and fertilizers used in the farming industry is believed to enhance the risk for presentation with Parkinson’s.
