Parkinson's Linked to Higher Skin Cancer Risk, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Study Finds

Men with Parkinson's disease are twice as likely as those without it to be diagnosed with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, a new report suggests. And women with Parkinson's were one-and-a-half times as likely to be diagnosed with the cancer as women without it. The link between the two conditions may indicate an underlying trigger for both diseases, said the study author. Further, the researchers found the link was "bidirectional," meaning melanoma was more common in patients both before and after the onset of Parkinson's.