Parkinson’s disease, a nervous system disease that causes movement and cognitive issues, affects more than 8.5 million people worldwide.
So far, medical professionals are unable to find the root cause of the problem.
However, low levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the human body have been connected to the disease. Additionally, people are more likely to develop the condition if they have certain risk factors.
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Several kinds of research were conducted in connection with the disease.
Now, researchers at the University of Rochester are adding more proof by discovering a connection between Parkinson’s disease and trichloroethylene.
Professor of neurology at the University of Rochester and the study’s principal author, Dr. Ray Dorsey, and his team conducted the research.
In 1969, the chemical was first connected to Parkinson’s disease. Since then, eight people in four case studies have been linked to PD by working with TCE.
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Now, for the study mentioned above, researchers combined data accumulated from a compilation of seven individual case studies. All these individuals had at least one occurrence of exposure.
One of the participants of the survey is a famous sportsperson. He was diagnosed with PD at the age of 36. Further probe revealed a childhood exposure to TCE.
“Currently, the world’s literature on trichloroethylene and Parkinson’s disease is limited to 26 studies based on a search on PubMed. Given the widespread use and pollution of TCE and perchloroethyleneTrusted Source (PCE), widely used in dry cleaning, and the rise of Parkinson’s disease, more research is needed. We call for that. The seven individuals add to the existing literature — the largest previous case series was three — and demonstrate the myriad of ways that individuals can be exposed to the chemical via work or the environment,” says Dr. Dorsey.