Diabetes May Increase Risk of Parkinson's Disease

Finnish researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes had 80 % bigger chances of later being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease than others.

This is the first study that linked type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s but they were not able to determine the exact cause. It is suspected that lifestyle factors could be to blame such as being overweight, cigarette smoking, and lack of physical activity.

The study included a group of over 50,000 men and women from Finland that had been followed for over a period of 18 years. During that time, 324 men and 309 women developed Parkinson’s disease.
Those people who had type 2 diabetes at the beginning of the study were more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the exact number being 83% more likely.

So far, the researchers have been able to link life style factors as contributing ones but more research is needed for understanding the relationship between diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.