Constipation, IBS may be early signs of Parkinson's disease

Certain gut problems, such as constipation, difficulty swallowing and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), may be early warning signs of the neurological condition Parkinson's disease, new observational research has warned.

Gastrointestinal symptoms are thought to precede the development of cerebrovascular disease, such as stroke or a brain aneurysm, or Alzheimer's disease, and it has been suggested (Braak's hypothesis) that gut conditions may precede the development of Parkinson's disease too.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers used data from a US nationwide medical record network to compare 24,624 people who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease of unknown cause with those who had been diagnosed with other neurological conditions -- Alzheimer’s disease (19,046) or cerebrovascular disease (23,942) -- or with none of these (24,624 people in comparison group). Those with Parkinson's disease were matched with people in the other groups for age, sex, race and ethnicity, and length of diagnosis to compare the frequency of gut conditions included in their electronic health record for an average of six years before their Parkinson's disease diagnosis, according to research published online in the journal Gut.

The researchers then tested the same hypothesis in a different way by dividing all the adults in the network who had been diagnosed with any of 18 gut conditions into separate groups - one for each condition of interest. Both analyses indicated that four gut conditions were associated with a higher risk of a Parkinson's disease diagnosis.