Parkinson’s: in women, physical activity would prevent the disease

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the destruction of certain brain neurons and the accumulation of proteins that are toxic. The second most common neurodegenerative disease in France after Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s does not yet know of a treatment. Prevention remains a priority to this day. Among the supposed avenues, physical activity seems obvious, but its role in women had never been specifically studied until now.

The most active women have a 25% reduced risk

To study the impact of physical activity on the onset of Parkinson’s disease in women, the researchers used the E3N cohort, i.e. nearly 100,000 women followed since 1990. With nearly 1,200 women with Parkinson’s disease identified in 2018, it is to date the largest prospective female cohort in the world for this disease.

The evolution of the physical activity of each participant throughout the 29 years of follow-up was estimated from the information collected in six individual questionnaires completed at different stages of the follow-up. The data obtained made it possible to compare the practice of physical activity before diagnosis in participants with the disease with those of participants of the same age who were not ill. The scientists also examined the impact of physical activity assessed more than 5, 10, 15 and 20 years before diagnosis on the risk of onset of Parkinson’s disease.

The researchers observed that:

• The more participants were physically active, the lower their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, even when physical activity was assessed more than 20 years before diagnosis. The most active women thus presented a reduced risk of approximately 25% of developing the disease compared to the least active;
• Participants with the disease were less active overall than others throughout follow-up, including more than 20 years before diagnosis;
• This gap between sick and non-sick women increased further in the 10 years before diagnosis, suggesting that precursor symptoms occurring in this interval may indeed be responsible for a decline in physical activity in women who will develop the disease. but have not yet been diagnosed.

The establishment of a popular physical activity program

For the researchers involved, these results, to be published in Neurologysuggest considering the implementation of preventive programs based on physical activity in people at risk of Parkinson’s disease.

“These results are in favor of a protective effect in women of physical activity against the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, even over the very long term. says Berta Portugal, doctoral student and first author of this work.

In short, put on your sneakers! It’s good for your body and your mind!

Slide: 10 sports that are good for morale