What is Parkinson’s disease?
Parkinson’s disease is a condition where a part of your brain deteriorates, causing more severe symptoms over time. While this condition is best known for how it affects muscle control, balance and movement, it can also cause a wide range of other effects on your senses, thinking ability, mental health and more.
Who does it affect?
The risk of developing Parkinson’s disease naturally increases with age, and the average age at which it starts is 60 years old. It’s slightly more common in men and people assigned male at birth (AMAB) than in women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB).
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While Parkinson’s disease is usually age-related, it can happen in adults as young as 20 (though this is extremely rare, and often people have a parent, full sibling or child with the same condition).
How common is this condition?
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Parkinson’s disease is very common overall, ranking second among age-related degenerative brain diseases. It’s also the most common motor (movement-related) brain disease. Experts estimate that it affects at least 1% of people over age 60 worldwide.
How does this condition affect my body?
Parkinson’s disease causes a specific area of your brain, the basal ganglia, to deteriorate. As this area deteriorates, you lose the abilities those areas once controlled. Researchers have uncovered that Parkinson’s disease causes a major shift in your brain chemistry.
Under normal circumstances, your brain uses chemicals known as neurotransmitters to control how your brain cells (neurons) communicate with each other. When you have Parkinson’s disease, you don’t have enough dopamine, one of the most important neurotransmitters.
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When your brain sends activation signals that tell your muscles to move, it fine-tunes your movements using cells that require dopamine. That’s why lack of dopamine causes the slowed movements and tremors symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
As Parkinson’s disease progresses, the symptoms expand and intensify. Later stages of the disease often affect how your brain functions, causing dementia-like symptoms and depression.
What is the difference between Parkinson’s disease vs. parkinsonism?
“Parkinsonism” is an umbrella term that describes Parkinson’s disease and conditions with similar symptoms. It can refer not only to Parkinson’s disease but also to other conditions like multiple system atrophy or corticobasal degeneration.
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