Scientists have learned why Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases can occur in relatively young people.
In particular, scientists were interested in:whether there is a link between past infectious diseases and the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases. The authors focused on Alzheimer's disease (292 thousand patients), Parkinson's disease (almost 104 thousand people) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (about 10 thousand patients). Patients were compared with healthy people.
It turned out that the risk of Alzheimer's disease andParkinson's disease was elevated in people who had been hospitalized for infections in the 5-20 years prior to these diagnoses. Moreover, the nature of the infection did not matter.