More Evidence Links Genes to Parkinson's, Feinstein Institute Study

A genetic variation that reduces the risk of Parkinson's disease by nearly 20 percent in many populations has been found by an international team of scientists. They also identified other variants of the same gene -- LRRK2 -- that double the risk of Parkinson's in whites and Asians. The Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease consortium's findings are from a genetic analysis of samples from more than 8,600 Parkinson's patients and almost 7,000 controls across 15 countries on five continents.