Familial Parkinson's Disease: Possible Role of Environmental Factors

Susan Calne, Bruce Schoenberg, Wayne Martin, Ryan J. Uitti, Peter Spencer, D. B. Calne

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

60 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report here six families with Parkinson's disease in whom the onset of symptoms tended to occur at approximately the same time irrespective of the age of the patient. The mean difference in the time of onset in different generations was 4.6 years while the mean difference in age of onset in children and parents was 25.2 years. We construe this pattern of age separation within families as suggestive of an environmental rather than genetic cause. Support for this view derives from the lack of correlation between occurrence of the disease and the degree of consanguinity. We conclude that our findings are in accord with the hypothesis which attributes the cause of some cases of Parkinson's disease to early, subclinical environmental damage followed by age-related attrition of neurons within the central nervous system.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)303-305
Number of pages3
JournalCanadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien des Sciences Neurologiques
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1987
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology

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