Does smoking reduce chances of catching Parkinson disease by 60%?
Funny you should ask. This has been on my mind for many months. The answer according to studies is yes, smoking can reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease due to binding at nicotinic receptors. The percentage may be debatable but it is up there. In the results od one study, people who were former smokers (had smoked but quit) had a 22% lower risk while those who continued to smoke had a 73% lower risk. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSCOL06… I’ve often thought that my husband might have had a better chance of not developing PD had he continued to smoke. The problem is that he already knew he had high blood pressure and he felt – and rightly so – that his cardiac risk was too great. The question is would he even be alive now (with PD) had he not quit smoking many years ago? Possibly not. This 2002 article shows a 50% reduced risk because it balances those who have quit and those who continued
