User:Mitchell.Ward/sandbox

This page is a critic of a paper investigating the role of occupations and leisure time activities in reducing the risk of Parkinson's Disease. The critic was an assignment for the course 'Health, Disease and Exercise' at the University of Canberra.

The paper: Shih I, Liew Z, Krause N, Ritz B. Lifetime occupational and leisure time physical activity and risk of Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders. 2016;28:112-117

Where is the research from?
The research was conducted from these institutions: There was some funding received from the American Parkinson's Disease Association, however there was no reported conflict of interest.
 * Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, California, USA
 * Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, California, USA
 * Department of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, California, USA

What kind of research was this?
This study was a retrospective, population-based case control study. Case control studies investigate the effect of a given intervention within a given population and compared them to a control group.

What did the research involve?
Parkinson's patients were identified based on recent diagnosis and geographical location. Potential subjects were contacted by email, letter or telephone and were screened for eligibility.

Eligibility criteria : Population controls were selected by medicare lists and had to be > 65 years and live in one of three designated counties.
 * 1) Being > 35 years old.
 * 2) Not too ill to participate in study
 * 3) Currently living in one of three designated counties
 * 4) Lived in california for more than 5 years.

Blinded interviewers then collected date by conducting structured telephone interviews to obtain demographic and physical activity information including self report of;
 * 1) Overall physical activity level across 4 age periods; 18-24 years, 25-44 years, 45-64 years & > 65 years
 * 2) History of in competitive sports
 * 3) Occupational histories

What were the basic results?
Findings:

-       Higher levels of self reported lifetime physical activity were inversely associated with PD risk.

-       44% lower risk of PD among those with moderate to vigorous physical activity of at least 180 MET hours per week on average in adulthood., similar results found over all 4 age periods

-       Those who remained highly active throughout lifetime were at the lowest risk of PD

-       Competitive sports inversely associated with PD risk.

-       Occupational PA not associated with PD risk

How did the researchers interpret the results?
The authors interpretted that the long prodromal stage of PD makes it difficult to conclude whether insidious disease leads to a reduction in PA years before becoming symptomatic. However PA in youth appear protective, unless they are markers for biologic or genetic factors that lower PD risk

Practical advice
This research has shown that physical activity and participation in sports during youth and remaining physically active throughout life appear to be beneficial in reducing the risk of Parkinson’s Disease.

However, there needs to be more research conducted to understand how these proposed benefits impact us physiologically and how much exercise would be optimal to reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s. There is also the possibility that the proposed benefits of physical activity may in fact be markers for genetic and biological factors that lower the risk of health.