People diagnosed with autism have a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease early in life. This is according to a large-scale study from the Karolinska Institute published in JAMA Neurology. Researchers believe that common biological mechanisms underlie both conditions.
The study is based on registry data from over two million people born in Sweden between 1974 and 1999, who were followed from the age of 20 until the end of 2022.
The researchers investigated a possible link between the neuropsychiatric diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which affects a person's thought processes, behavior, and interpersonal communication, and early-onset Parkinson's disease, a condition that affects locomotion and movement.
Dopamine may be involved
The findings show that people diagnosed with autism are four times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people without such a diagnosis. This association remained even when socioeconomic status, a genetic predisposition to mental illness or Parkinson's, and other similar factors were taken into account.
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