Parkinson’s disease, the neurological movement disorder, which is known to affect one in 1,000 people worldwide, is increasing its footprint in India.
A disease once considered to be affecting only the elderly is now found to be increasingly affecting people well below 40 years of age. The mean age of the onset of Parkinson’s is about 65. However, more number of people are being diagnosed with neurological disorders under the age of 40 and there are some cases of Parkinson’s disease diagnosed even in the age group of 25-30 years.
The disease has its quirks too, for which medical science has no explanations as yet — some of them being the increase of Parkinson’s disease among the younger age group and specifically among members of the Parsi community.
In this regard, Jaslok Hospital has now become the first hospital to acquire an intra-operative monitoring machine, which can ensure better results for Parkinson’s surgery.
Dr Paresh Doshi, an expert in neurological surgery, said, “There are no known reasons for Parkinson’s to set in as genetic disorder factors for only a small proportion of the cases diagnosed. Once identified, a clinical diagnosis is needed to establish Parkinson’s disease.
As far as the unusual prevalence of the disease in the Parsi community is concerned, one of the speculations is that consanguinity is one of the reasons, but there is no evidence to establish it because such a practice is prevalent among Muslims as well. And Parkinson’s is not as rampant in that community.”
With medical advancements, the disease can now be controlled to an extent, but there is no cure yet. Even surgical procedures, which have given many Parkinson’s patients a better life, can only be carried out after the patient has lived with the disease for at least five years on medication.