Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder are at increased risk for Parkinson’s disease later in life.
The study shows that the increased risk may be due to changes in the brain’s dopamine system caused by dopamine receptor antagonists or the neurobiologic effects of schizophrenia.
“According to our results, a previously diagnosed psychiatric disorder or schizophrenia may be one factor that increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease later in life,” said the researcher. Tomi Kuusimäki from the University of Turku in Finland.
For the study, published in the journal Movement Disorders, the researchers examined previously diagnosed cases of psychiatric disorders and schizophrenia in more than 25,000 patients with Finnish Parkinson’s disease who were treated between 1996 and 2019.
In the study, it was noted that patients with Parkinson’s disease had previously been diagnosed with psychiatric disorder and schizophrenia more often than control patients of the same age who had not been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease is currently the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world. It is a neurodegenerative disorder that is more common in patients older than 60 years. Cardinal motor symptoms include shaking, stiffness and slowness of movement.
In Parkinson’s disease, the neurons located in the substantia nigra in the midbrain slowly decay, leading to a deficiency in a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
As for schizophrenia, the dopamine level rises in some parts of the brain. In addition, the medications used in the primary treatment of Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia appear to have different modes of action.
Parkinson’s disease symptoms can be reduced by dopamine receptor agonists, but schizophrenia is usually treated with dopamine receptor antagonists.
–IANS
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