The risk of developing Parkinson's is at least twice as high in people with anxiety compared to those without, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research, published in the British Journal of General Practice , investigated whether there was a link between people over the age of 50 who had recently developed anxiety and a later diagnosis of Parkinson's. The team used UK primary care data between 2008 and 2018 and assessed 109,435 patients who had developed anxiety after the age of 50 and compared them to 878,256 matched controls who did not have anxiety.
They then tracked the presence of Parkinson's features - such as sleep problems, depression, tremor and balance impairment - from the point of their anxiety diagnosis up until one year before the date of a Parkinson's diagnosis, to help them understand each group's risk of developing Parkinson's over time and what their risk factors might be. The team made sure to adjust the results to account for age, sex, social deprivation, lifestyle factors, severe mental illness, head trauma and dementia – which may affect the likelihood of developing the condition in people with anxiety. Consequently, they found that the risk of developing Parkinson's increased two-fold in people with anxiety, compared to the control group.
They also confirmed that symptoms such as depression, sleep disturbance, fatigue, cognitive impairment, hypotension, tremor, rigidity, balance impairment, and constipation, were risk factors for developing P.