Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis May Be Preceded By Increased Risk Of Injury-Causing Falls, Umea University Study

Years before Parkinson's disease (PD) is diagnosed, patients may be at higher risk for injurious falls or hip fractures, according to research published this week in PLOS Medicine. Peter Nordstrom and colleagues at Umea University, Sweden, found that patients with PD were more likely to have had a hip fracture or injurious fall in the years preceding their diagnosis than controls without PD, and individuals who suffered injurious falls were more likely than controls with no fall-related injuries to be diagnosed with PD in the following years.