Doctors begin worlds biggest Parkinson’s study

Doctors from Glasgow University are to lead the world’s biggest study into the causes of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease is a brain condition that affects nearly 130,000 people in the UK. People with the condition suffer from a range of symptoms, including tremors and movement difficulties, changes to their moods, loss of smell and speech difficulties.

The charity, Parkinson’s UK, are calling for 3,000 volunteers to take part in the study. The volunteers should include patients recently diagnosed with the disease and those under 50, as well as their siblings.

The volunteers will be tracked for up to five years. The doctors will be looking for how they respond to their treatments and try to identify genetic markers for the disease in the patients blood.

The researchers hope to be able to develop a simple diagnostic blood test which will help to identify the disease in its early stages, which is crucial to prescribe the right drugs at the right time.

The research will eventually link up with 40 research centres in the UK and be available for analysis throughout the world. The ultimate aim is to find a cure for the disease and the researchers indicate that the study will help to speed it up.

A spokesperson for Parkinson’s UK said: “Finding a cure for Parkinson’s is like building a gigantic jigsaw, but we still have a number of the pieces missing. This vital new study will help us fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge.”