A number of different gut conditions could be an early warning sign for Parkinson’s disease, research has suggested.
People with constipation, difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and gastroparesis (or when food takes longer to move from the stomach to the small intestine) were all potentially more at risk of developing Parkinson’s.
The research, published in the journal Gut, concluded that gastroparesis, dysphagia, and constipation were all associated with a more than doubling in risk of Parkinson’s disease in the five years preceding the diagnosis. IBS without diarrhoea was associated with a 17% higher risk.
Researchers from the US and Belgium compared the medical records of 24,624 people from the US who have Parkinson’s with 19,046 diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and 23,942 people with cerebrovascular disease. A further 24,624 with no conditions were also evaluated over the course of the five-year study.
The study was building on the recognition that Alzheimer’s disease, brain aneurysms and strokes have all been linked to poor gut health, but until now there was no clear relationship with Parkinson’s.
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While the four gut conditions were associated with a higher risk of a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, appendix removal seemed to be protective, prompting questions about its potential role in the processes leading to Parkinson’s disease, the researchers said.
Neither inflammatory bowel disease nor vagotomy (removal of all or part of the vagus nerve to treat peptic ulcer) were associated with a heightened risk, they also found.
Some other gut issues, including functional dyspepsia (burning sensation or fullness of the stomach with no obvious cause); IBS with diarrhoea; and diarrhoea plus faecal incontinence, were also more prevalent among people who developed Parkinson’s disease.
However, these conditions were also more prevalent before the onset of Alzheimer’s disease or cerebrovascular disease.
The researchers cautioned that this was an observational study and, as such, did not establish cause. The monitoring period was also relatively short.
Nevertheless, they concluded: “This study is the first to establish substantial observational evidence that the clinical diagnosis of not only constipation, but also dysphagia, gastroparesis and irritable bowel syndrome without diarrhoea might specifically predict the development of Parkinson’s disease.
“These findings warrant alertness for [gastrointestinal] syndromes in patients at higher risk for Parkinson’s disease and highlight the need for further investigation of [gastrointestinal] precedents in Alzheimer’s disease and cerebrovascular disease.”
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