Do you know even after recovering from severe brain injury there is a risk of developing Parkinson’s disease?
The various studies conducted so far suggests that severe brain injury increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease later on in life.
Parkinson’s disease is the disorder of central nervous system which affects the movement and also causes tremors. It is a chronic disease and lasts for years or lifetime. It is not possible to cure this disease, but treatments are helpful to some extent.
Research conducted at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine in Seattle provides useful results. It suggests that head injury may itself initiate the cascade of effects that lead to Parkinson’s disease.
It also suggests that traumatic head injury with loss of the consciousness increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in future.
Furthermore, the research suggests that it is also possible that brain injury may not lead to Parkinson’s disease. But it can make difficult for people having a traumatic brain injury to recover soon.
Also, it may be difficult for a person to deal with effects of Parkinson’s disease along with brain injury.
Moreover, it may not be necessary that head injury causes Parkinson’s disease. To solve the mystery whether head injury can cause Parkinson’s disease or not, another research conducted. This research conducted on 865 adults of average age, 80 years.
The all 865 adults have suffered traumatic brain injury and lost consciousness at some point of their life. From 865 adults, 142 adults have lost their consciousness for more than an hour at the time of their injury. And 117 from them had Parkinson’s disease.
Hence results were found that person with the severe head injury and with the loss of his consciousness for more than an hour has a greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. But it is yet a mystery why head injury causes Parkinson’s disease.
According to Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, the Parkinson’s disease has no cure, but patients have treatment options. This disease directly affects central nervous system and movement.
Damage to the nerve cells of the brain leads to drop in dopamine levels which lead to symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. This disease often starts with the tremor in hand. Stiffness, slow movement, and loss of balance are other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
So if you experience any of these symptoms consult to doctor whether you have a head injury or not. This disease mostly occurs in people of age more than 60 years.
Another study conducted at University of California, San Francisco. It monitored the medical records of a person aged 55 years and more. These all treated for trauma in California hospitals in 2005- 2006.
They found 52,393 people with traumatic brain injury, and 113,406 people had fractures with no injuries on neck or head.
And results showed that people with brain injury were more prone to develop Parkinson’s disease after 5-7 years than the person who only had fractures.
There is 44% increased the risk for patients with head injury than other patients who had fractures, to develop Parkinson’s disease.
A study suggests that if you encounter repeated head injuries, then the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease is also high.
Also if a person had a severe head injury, then it is more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than the person with normal head injury.
Researchers suggest a person should take preventive measures to avoid any accident or head injury. They should wear a helmet while biking and car drivers should always use seat belts.
This will help in avoiding any major injuries to the head. And hence help in reducing the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease later on. Because repeated injury on the head increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease.
Also Read: Sources Of Aluminium And Relationship With Alzheimer’s Disease
Hope the above-mentioned information is useful for you.
