Earlier Diagnosis for Parkinson’s Disease

By Clare Tweedy

Researchers from Newcastle University have raised the hope of an earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease in the near future. It was long thought that the symptoms of Parkinson’s don’t tend to manifest until the later stages of the disease. However, new research suggests that the non-movement related symptoms of the disease may appear in patients earlier than was previously thought. Drooling and excessive saliva production, along with bowel problems and anxiety, have been observed in patients still in the early stages of the disease.

The chance of an earlier diagnosis can lead to treatment for the disease starting earlier, and the patient’s quality of life therefore improving. The non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s often go unreported, though this early diagnosis could lead to these issues being treated long before the movement-related symptoms set in. On average, a Parkinson’s sufferer will experience eight of the non-movement related symptoms of the disease. The study itself was carried out as a part of Newcastle’s Initiative on Changing Age, a project intending to tackle the issue of ageing and its associated challenges.