Combination of Head Injury and Pesticide Exposure May Triple Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

New research shows that people who have had a head injury and lived or worked near areas where the pesticide paraquat was used may be three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Paraquat is a herbicide commonly used on crops to control weeds. It can be deadly to humans and animals. The study appears in the Nov. 13, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“While each of these two factors is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson’s on their own, the combination is associated with greater risk than just adding the two factors together,” says study author Beate Ritz, MD, PhD, of UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. “This study suggests that the physiological process that is triggered by a head injury may increase brain cells’ vulnerability to attacks from pesticides that can be toxic to the brain or the other way around; for example, chronic low-dose exposure to pesticides may increase the risk of Parkinson’s after a head injury.” For more information, click here to read the full release.