EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2025
MINNEAPOLIS — Having a larger waistline, high blood pressure and other risk factors that make up metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published on August 20, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that metabolic syndrome causes Parkinson’s disease; it only shows an association.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as having three or more of the following risk factors: excess belly fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, higher than normal triglycerides, which are a type of fat found in the blood, and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or “good” cholesterol.
“Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder among older adults after Alzheimer’s disease, and metabolic syndrome affects an estimated one in four adults and is highly modifiable,” said study author Weili Xu, PhD, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. “Our findings suggest that metabolic syndrome may be a modifiable risk factor for Parkinson’s disease. Future studies are needed to see whether working to control metabolic syndrome could help prevent Parkinson’s disease.”
The study involved 467,200 people with an average age of 57; of those 38% had metabolic syndrome. The participants were followed for a median of 15 years. During that time, 3,222 people developed Parkinson’s disease. For people without metabolic syndrome, the incidence rate for Parkinson’s was 4.87 cases per 10,000 person-years, compared to 5.21 cases per 10,000 person-years for people who had metabolic syndrome. Person-years represent both the number of people in the study and the amount of time each person spends in the study.
After adjusting for age, smoking status, physical activity and genes that increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease, researchers found that people with metabolic syndrome were about 40% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people without the syndrome.
The researchers also conducted a meta-analysis of all studies on this topic and confirmed the finding that people with metabolic syndrome have an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. Combining the current study with eight previous studies, the researchers found that people with metabolic syndrome were 29% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people without the syndrome.
“We also found a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease for people with both metabolic syndrome and a genetic susceptibility for Parkinson’s disease,” Xu said. “This suggests that maintaining metabolic health may be especially important for people who have genes that increase their risk for Parkinson’s disease.”
A limitation of the study was that most of the participants were white people, so the results may not be the same for other groups.
The study was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, and the Swedish Dementia Foundation.
Discover more about Parkinson’s disease at BrainandLife.org, from the American Academy of Neurology. This resource also offers a magazine, podcast, and books that connect patients, caregivers and anyone interested in brain health with the most trusted information, straight from the world’s leading experts in brain health. Follow Brain & Life® on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
The American Academy of Neurology is the leading voice in brain health. As the world’s largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals with more than 40,000 members, the AAN provides access to the latest news, science and research affecting neurology for patients, caregivers, physicians and professionals alike. The AAN’s mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all. A neurologist is a doctor who specializes in the diagnosis, care and treatment of brain, spinal cord and nervous system diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, concussion, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, headache and migraine.
Explore the latest in neurological disease and brain health, from the minds at the AAN at AAN.com or find us on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
END
Parkinson’s disease risk increases with metabolic syndrome
2025-08-20
(Press-News.org)
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
What happened before the Big Bang?
2025-08-20
We’re often told it is “unscientific” or “meaningless” to ask what happened before the big bang. But a new paper by FQxI cosmologist Eugene Lim, of King's College London, UK, and astrophysicists Katy Clough, of Queen Mary University of London, UK, and Josu Aurrekoetxea, at Oxford University, UK, published in Living Reviews in Relativity, in June 2025, proposes a way forward: using complex computer simulations to numerically (rather than exactly) solve Einstein’s equations for gravity in extreme situations. The team argues that numerical relativity should be applied increasingly in cosmology to probe ...
First SwRI-owned office outside Texas opens in Warner Robins, Georgia
2025-08-20
SAN ANTONIO — August 20, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has constructed its first facility outside of its San Antonio headquarters in Warner Robins, Georgia. The 33,000-square-foot, $18.5 million building, equipped to advance national defense technology, is strategically located 3 miles from Robins Air Force Base to bolster SwRI’s longstanding support for the U.S. Air Force.
Institute leadership welcomed government and community leaders to the grounds on August 20 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours to mark the grand opening of the new structure, which houses offices, conference rooms and laboratories. SwRI employees based in Warner Robins ...
Ad hominem attacks are the most common way users confront content they perceive as wrong in comment sections beneath news videos, with over 40% of analyzed comments relying on reputation-based insults
2025-08-20
Ad hominem attacks are the most common way users confront content they perceive as wrong in comment sections beneath news videos, with over 40% of analyzed comments relying on reputation-based insults to oppose earlier replies
Article URL: http://plos.io/4os0Tkc
Article title: Beyond ad hominem attacks: A typology of the discursive tactics used when objecting to news commentary on social media
Author countries: U.S.
Funding: This research was funded by the National Science Foundation Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (NSF, Funding number: 2106476). Full ...
California's dwarf Channel Island foxes mostly have relatively bigger brains than their larger mainland gray fox cousins, which may reflect island-specific evolutionary pressures
2025-08-20
California's dwarf Channel Island foxes mostly have relatively bigger brains than their larger mainland gray fox cousins, which may reflect island-specific evolutionary pressures
Article URL: http://plos.io/4m6uyhk
Article title: Increased brain size of the dwarf Channel Island fox (Urocyon littoralis) challenges “Island Syndrome” and suggests little evidence of domestication
Author countries: U.S.
Funding: Funding for this project and Kimberly's PhD research was provided by Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California; the Wrigley Institute for Environmental ...
Extreme heat poses growing threat to our aging population
2025-08-20
Embargoed until 2:00 PM ET on August 20, 2025
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Older adults often don’t realize how vulnerable they are to extreme heat and most aren’t prepared for long periods of hot weather, according to a review of more than 40 studies.
In the review, researchers found that most studies focused on how older adults react when heat waves strike, such as staying hydrated or moving to cooler locations.
But there is less research on how they plan for prolonged heat events, which may be evidence of low-risk ...
Researchers reverse autism symptoms in mice with epilepsy drugs
2025-08-20
Stanford Medicine scientists investigating the neurological underpinnings of autism spectrum disorder have found that hyperactivity in a specific brain region could drive behaviors commonly associated with the disorder.
Using a mouse model of the disease, the researchers identified the reticular thalamic nucleus — which serves as a gatekeeper of sensory information between the thalamus and cortex — as a potential target for treatments.
Moreover, they were able to reverse symptoms similar to those ...
Few depressed teens getting treatment, study finds
2025-08-20
Fewer than half of all adolescents with major depressive episode (MDE) received mental health care in the US in 2022, with the odds of specialist treatment being even lower among marginalized groups, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Su Chen Tan and colleagues at University of Tennessee, USA.
The prevalence of adolescent depression has increased following the COVID-19 pandemic and is often under-treated. Depression experienced during adolescence can be linked to more severe social and psychological consequences ...
Access to green space was a mental health lifeline during COVID-19 pandemic
2025-08-20
Toronto, ON — A new national study led by researchers from Carleton University and the University of Toronto reveals that older adults living in greener neighborhoods were less likely to experience depression during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using data from over 13,000 urban-dwelling participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), researchers found that access to nearby green spaces — from public parks and playing fields to tree canopy cover and private gardens along ...
New drug formulation turns intravenous treatments into a quick injection
2025-08-20
Patients with some cancers, autoimmune diseases, and metabolic disorders often endure time-consuming intravenous (IV) infusions to receive the best protein-based treatments available. Because these protein therapeutics require high doses to be effective and are typically formulated at low concentrations to remain stable, IV infusion has been, until now, the only option.
Researchers at Stanford have developed a new delivery platform that allows these drugs to be stored and delivered in much higher concentrations. With this new formulation method, published Aug. 20 in Science Translational Medicine, many protein therapeutics could be injected quickly ...
In the Neolithic, agriculture took root gradually
2025-08-20
The transition to agriculture in Europe involved the coexistence of hunter-gatherers and early farmers migrating from Anatolia. To better understand their dynamics of interaction, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with the University of Fribourg and Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, combined computer simulations with ancient genetic data. The results show that population mixing increased locally over time during the Neolithic expansion, at each stage of the farmers’ advance along the “Danube route” toward Central Europe. Published in Science Advances, the study offers new insight into this pivotal period in human history.
The shift ...