Better Brain Health | USA Today : We Can Help End Parkinson ’ s Disease
We ’ re on a mission to solidify our early understanding of who ’ s at risk for Parkinson ’ s , who gets it , who doesn ’ t and why . But this requires a new level of public participation .
250
scientific papers based on PPMI data have been published .
And I ’ m not talking just to the people who , like me , are living with Parkinson ’ s disease .
In December 2021 , The Michael J . Fox Foundation and a “ who ’ s-who ” of Parkinson ’ s researchers announced a clinical study that promises to rewrite the future of Parkinson ’ s disease and to generate breakthroughs that could impact other major brain diseases such as Alzheimer ’ s , too . I ’ m asking you ( yes , you ) to be part of it .
The Parkinson ’ s Progression Markers Initiative ( PPMI ) was launched in 2010 . Since then , PPMI has studied 1,400 people like you , with and without Parkinson ’ s disease , in the United States , Europe , Asia and Australia .
These heroes are giving qualified scientists access to their anonymous clinical information , including test results and brain scans , to hunt down patterns and details that have already contributed significantly to a better understanding of Parkinson ’ s . To date , more than 250 scientific papers based on PPMI data have been published , and researchers around the world now access this data for independent studies on average 2,200 times a day .
Predicting Parkinson ’ s early on
Now the study is entering a new stage — bringing us much , much closer to the ability to predict who might get Parkinson ’ s before symptoms ever show up . When you can predict who ’ s going to get a disease , you ’ ve already started down the path to preventing it .
And this is where you come in . We ’ re on a mission to solidify our early understanding of who ’ s at risk for Parkinson ’ s , who gets it , who doesn ’ t and why . But this requires a new level of public participation — 100,000 people — to help researchers build on what ’ s already known about the early signs of Parkinson ’ s , ones that we ’ ve observed but haven ’ t yet pinpointed scientifically .
For example , did you know that people who act out their dreams while sleeping might be more likely to develop Parkinson ’ s ?
52 The Michael J . Fox Foundation for Parkinson ’ s Research