IL PARKINSON affects approximately 1-2% of the world‘s elderly population and is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. Although the causes are not yet known, scientists believe that genetic and environmental factors contribute to its onset. A new research with the participation of the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of the National Research Council (Cnr-Irib) of Cosenza and the Institute for Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology (Cnr-Ibfm) of Milan, published on Movement Disorders, indicates that the personality trait “neuroticism ” it is constantly associated with an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
“Neuroticism has been linked to mood disturbances such as depression, andAlzheimer, but there are fewer studies on its prospective connection with Parkinson’s, a long-term degenerative disorder that causes a progressive decline in motor and physical functions. As the disease progresses, damage to nerve cells in the brain causes a drop in dopamine levels which leads to symptoms such as tremors, slow movements, stiffness and loss of balance “, explains Luca Passamonti, lead researcher at Cnr-Ibfm in Milan and neurologist at the University of Cambridge.
“Previously it was thought that the link between the neurotic personality and the onset of Parkinson’s was linked to the excess dopaminergic activity that characterizes the neurocognitive profile of the neurotic and that would lead to a condition of chemical stress of the dopaminergic areas linked to the development of the disease in age advanced ”, he continues Antonio Cerasa, neuroscientist and head of the Cnr-Irib office in Cosenza. “However, this hypothesis has been rejected in recent years in favor of a vision aimed at compromising the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system which, in the neurotic, would lead to a long-term state of oxidative stress”.
Using data from the UK Biobank, in this study, half a million individuals, aged 40 to 69 years between 2006 and 2010, were recruited and followed for about 12 years between 2006 and 2010. “During the longitudinal evaluations, 1,142 cases appeared in the sample. Parkinson’s. Subjects who showed higher levels of neuroticism at the start of the study showed more than 80% risk of developing the disease, “he concludes. Antonio Terracciano of Florida State University of Tallahassee (USA), coordinator of the study, also conducted in collaboration with French, English and Italian universities (Rome Tor Vergata). “Anxiety and depression are phenomena associated with Parkinson’s disease. In part this problem could be due to how the disease alters the brain and can affect emotions. Some clinicians think that anxiety and depression are just the result of Parkinson’s, however our results suggest that some emotional vulnerability is present many years before the development of the disease ”.
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