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Stephanie Soto

Genetic Testing

There has been a few new articles regarding genetic testing and Parkinson's. Let's review two that seem to have made a lot of noise in the PD community.



PD GENEration study:

Currently there have been seven genes that have a causal relationship with Parkinson's disease. Those genes are LRRK2, GBA1, PRKN, SNCA, PINK1, PARK7, and VPS35. However, many people with PD do not undergo genetic testing because it is not usually offered by their provider. Without this information, genetic information will not be incorporated into your care and variant-targeted medicine trials will not be able to enroll people. A recently published study looked at genetic variants across the US, Canada, and the Dominical Republic.


The study enrolled 10,510 participants between September of 2019 to June of 2023. The participant demographics were:

  • 59% male

  • 86% White

  • 2% Asian

  • 4% Black/African American

  • 9% Hispanic/Latino

  • mean age 67.4 ± 10.8 years.


Results showed that approximately 13% of study participants had a reportable genetic variant. That percentage highlights the need for further genetic testing, further research, and further clinical trials around treatment and genetic testing.





Lifestyle factors and genetics:

A recent study examined how lifestyle factors can play a role in those who carry the genetic variants that have a causal relationship with PD. 4367 patients with idiopathic PD, 159 patients with GBA1-PD, and 3090 healthy controls were included in the study. The study specifically examined the effects of lifestyle factors on age at onset in PD.


This study found that coffee, tobacco, and aspirin had decreased the risk of early-onset symptoms in people with a genetic risk of Parkinson’s.


This study found a correlation between these lifestyle factors and PD, but correlation does not mean causation. For example, there is a correlation between ice cream and getting sun burned. That doesn't mean that ice cream causes you to get sun burned, but that they commonly occur together (probably because most people eat more ice cream in the summer months).


With studies like this, always keep in mind that there is no definite answer. We still don't know why these things are correlated, but we do know that tobacco use does cause cancer, too much coffee will negatively influence your sleep and heart, and too much aspirin can lead to a stomach bleed.


As always, talk with your doctor before taking medications or altering your lifestyle to influence your health.






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