According to a study reported in the NY Times, early depression and Parkinson’s disease are linked, but it’s not clear if one is causing the other.
Chief quote:
“It could be that depression damages the brain, causing the increase in Parkinson’s,” Dr. Nordstrom said. “Or it could also be that very early in Parkinson’s, we are more prone to depression. It’s impossible to say.”
The researchers studied about 550,000 people, some with depression, some without, for an average of seven years. The study found that “the rate of Parkinson’s disease among people with depression was almost three times that of people without it. Among people with depression, those who were hospitalized and those whose depression was recurrent were at higher risk, suggesting that the more severe the depression the greater the risk.”
But note again: the study doesn’t say if one illness causes the other.
