Ray Dorsey MD - Ending Parkinsons Disease: A Prescription for Action

Every civilization has its own kind of pestilence and can control it only by reforming itself.

Ren Dubos, Mirage of Health, 1959

O N A BRILLIANT, BLUE-SKY DAY IN J UNE 2018, THE U NIVERSITY of Rochester hosted its annual Mens Health Day at the Locust Hill Country Club in upstate New York. Over three hundred men, most in their fifties, sixties, and seventies, came to hear the latest on enlarged prostates, colon cancer, and heart disease. I came to speak about Parkinsons disease.

Months earlier I had written a paper titled The Parkinson Pandemic with my friend and colleagueand now coauthorBas Bloem.

This is what I know. This is what I study. But as I stood there in front of the packed room at Mens Health Day, I was not prepared for what I was about to see. I opened my talk by asking how many people in the audience had a friend or family member with Parkinsons. Before I could finish asking the question, over two hundred hands had flown upalmost the entire room. Everyone looked around. A silence settled on us as we took in the sight. It didnt matter that I was an expert or that I had helped develop the statistics. Data always feel remote, but here it was in front of me, the evidence of the pandemic.

Parkinsons disease is characterized by tremors, slowness in movement, stiffness, and difficulties with balance and walking. It can also cause a wide range of symptoms that are not visibleloss of smell, constipation, sleep disorders, and depression. Most people with Parkinsons are diagnosed in their fifties or later. But it is not just a disease of the elderly. Up to 10% of those with the condition develop the disease in their forties or younger.

Parkinsons stems from a loss of nerve cells in a particular region of the brain that produces dopamine, the brain chemical that helps control movements such as walking. The disease has multiple causes including environmental hazardsair pollution, some industrial solvents, and particular pesticides. In addition, certain genetic mutations, head trauma, and the lack of regular exercise all increase risk.

The scale of the disease can feel overwhelming and the challenge daunting. But we can stop Parkinsons in some cases, and we may already know how.