According to Parkinson’s UK, one in 37 people in the UK will be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in their lifetime, and it is currently the fastest-growing neurological condition worldwide. It is caused by a loss of brain cells, and although the cause of this brain cell loss is unknown, it is thought to be due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Interestingly, those with PD have higher rates of anxiety. However, the possibility of anxiety being an indicator of PD development has not yet been studied. In research published in July 2024 in the British Journal of General Practice, Bazo-Alvarez and colleagues found that the risk of developing PD was at least doubled in those ages 50 years and older with recently developed anxiety compared to those ages 50 years and older without anxiety.
This study utilised data from The Health Improvement Network (THIN), a primary care dataset containing information related to 15.6 million patients in the UK. Within THIN, patients ages 50–99 years old who were registered in a general practitioner (GP) practice between 2008 and 2018 with one or more anxiety records after one year or more of no previous records were identified (109,435 participants). These patients were matched based on their sex and age with four other people who had not developed anxiety, as controls (878,256 participants). The participants were then followed up in the study to estimate the risk of developing PD and the length of time it took to develop PD in those with and without anxiety. The risk of PD in those with anxiety compared to those without anxiety corresponded to a hazard ratio of 2.1, which indicates that the risk of PD in those with anxiety was twice as high as in those without anxiety. Additionally, participants with anxiety developed PD in a shorter period compared to participants without anxiety.
This study suggests that newly developed anxiety for those ages 50 years and older could be a potential indicator of future PD development. Therefore, monitoring the development of anxiety symptoms in older adults could be instrumental in the early detection of PD. As a result, better managing the symptoms of PD through interventions has the potential to improve patient quality of life. GlobalData forecasts the number of those aged 50 years and older with PD in the UK to rise, with the diagnosed prevalent cases increasing from 119,000 cases in 2024 to 135,000 cases in 2029. Additionally, GlobalData epidemiologists forecast that the 12-month total prevalent cases of anxiety disorders in those ages 50 years and older in the UK will increase from 4,145,000 cases in 2024 to 4,190,000 cases in 2028.
This was shown first on: https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/analyst-comment/anxiety-identified-as-major-indicator-of-parkinsons-disease-in-older-adults/
