ONE in five Parkinson's sufferers in Spain is aged under 40, shock new statistics reveal – but if greater efforts were made to diagnose it earlier, quality of life could be dramatically improved and patients could live up to 40 years from the onset of their condition.
And researchers at Barcelona's Hospital Clínic have found a way of diagnosing the degenerative condition through a simple biopsy of a gland in the back of the mouth.
They tested the method on 21 patients with REM sleep disorders, as well as 24 Parkinson's patients already diagnosed and 26 people with neither problem.
The protein said to be behind the neuro-degenerative disorder, Alpha-Sinucleina, was found in 70% of confirmed Parkinson's sufferers and in 90% of REM sleep disorder patients, but in none of those with neither condition, said Hospital Clínic's neurology department.
Tomorrow (Monday) is World Parkinson's Day, and medics who treat people with the disease say the earliest signs are usually movement problems in one or more limbs, stiffness, slow movement, and jerkiness.
Typically, balance and coordination are affected first, but later symptoms can include a loss of sense of smell, REM sleep disorders and cognitive deterioration.
These can take years to appear, and the average Parkinson's sufferer will not tend to be diagnosed until up to five years after the onset of the first signs.
But by detecting Alpha-Sinucleina early on, medication can block the progress of the protein to the brain, or nervous system, preventing Parkinson's from developing further.
The Spanish Parkinson's Federation (FEP) says the disease is normally, incorrectly, associated with 'little old ladies and men who tremble all the time', but that up to 20% of sufferers are still in their 30s or even younger – and many more are still in early middle age.
“But there are patients who are neither elderly, nor do they tremble,” the FEP stresses.
Younger patients can suffer social rejection and end up becoming a recluse at home, the Federation warns.
“They live in a slow-moving world, right now when society as a whole lives in a world of 'right now',” says Dr María Jesús Delgado.
“It's a difficult disease to understand. Patients suffer insults and impatient reactions when they slow down and struggle to keep walking across a zebra crossing, or when they take ages to pay for their goods in a supermarket.”
For this reason, many are reluctant to leave the house, meaning they 'become invisible' and society is 'not aware of their problems' – a situation which can lead to mental health problems, such as depression, a frequent side-effect of neuro-degenerative conditions.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com