This sleep disorder puts people at 'very high risk' of Parkinson's

Log in with your Medical News Today account to create or edit your custom homepage, catch-up on your opinions notifications and set your newsletter preferences.Sign up for a free Medical News Today account to customize your medical and health news experiences.Data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicate that every year, approximately 50,000 people in the United States learn that they have Parkinson's disease, a neurological condition that affects a person's motor function and exposes them to other neurodegenerative problems, such as Alzheimer's disease.Researchers still do not fully understand exactly what causes Parkinson's disease, but they have identified a few risk factors that can predispose a person to develop this condition.These include a person's age and sex as well as some genetic factors. In contrast, assessing for the risk factors that the current study considers is both quick and cost efficient."We confirmed a very high risk of [Parkinson's disease] in people with REM sleep disorder and found several strong predictors of this progression," notes Dr. Postuma."As new disease-modifying treatments are being developed for [Parkinson's disease] and related diseases, these patients are ideal candidates for neuroprotective trials."Dr. Ron PostumaYour privacy is important to us.Healthline Media UK Ltd, Brighton, UK.© 2004-2019 All rights reserved.