Genetic link to early-onset of Parkinson’s

Researchers in Toronto say they’ve found a link between early-onset Parkinson’s disease and a piece of DNA missing on chromosome 22.

Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University Health Network studied a group of people missing the DNA.

Among the group aged 35 to 64, there was a marked increase in the number of Parkinson’s cases compared to the general population of the same age range.

The gene deletion studied happens in about one in two-thousand to four-thousand births, but is thought to be under-diagnosed.