What Is Parkinsons?
Parkinsons disease is a progressive disease of the brain and nervous system that affects a persons ability to move.
Whats more, not everyone with Parkinsons will have the same symptoms or experience them to the same degree.
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This is too long for patients to wait.
Rachel Dolhun, MD, the senior vice president for medical communications at theMichael J.
We dont have anything that can definitively diagnose or exclude Parkinsons disease, said Dolhun.
Instead, its based on a doctors examination.
Addinghearing lossandepilepsyto the potential signs and symptoms of the disease could help providers spot it sooner.
Rachel Dolhun, MD
We dont have anything that can definitively diagnose or exclude Parkinsons disease.
Primary care providers play a key role in recognizing the symptoms of Parkinsons sooner.
Simonet said that providers may need to ask their patients about these symptoms as well.
Therefore, they will not report these symptoms to their GP.
That is why direct questioning is so important.
Why Is There a Delay?
Parkinsons disease is a slow,progressive condition, said Simonet.
We do not expect all symptoms to start at once from one day to another.
The researchers did suggest one possible reason for the delay in diagnosis.
Why East London?
Since the U.K. has itsNational Health Service(NHS), everyone in East London has access to healthcare.
Therefore, a patients economic status is not a factor when seeking or receiving treatment.
Who Was Included?
What Did the Findings Show?
The researchers also identified two new potential early symptoms of Parkinson’s.
This outcome was associated with a later diagnosis of Parkinsons and was present up to 5 years before diagnosis.
Epilepsy
The researchers said that the finding of epilepsy as a possible symptom of Parkinsons was notable.
However, Simonet said that Parkinson-like symptoms can also be caused bymedications that are used to treat epilepsy.
The initiative hopes to enroll 100,000 people online.
Queen Mary University of London.New early signs of Parkinsons uncovered in most diverse UK study to date.
