Life experiences matter
In a comment, Michael S. Okun, MD, medical advisor, Parkinson’s Foundation, and director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida Health, Gainesville, said that “the idea that childhood trauma could be associated with a mild increase in severity of Parkinson’s symptoms such as apathy, pain, sleepiness and depression is fascinating.”
“We should however temper our enthusiasm for the results of this study because they were obtained through a direct patient survey, and not collected from large well characterized medical database,” Dr. Okun said.
He added” “If the data on childhood trauma and Parkinson’s can be replicated, we must ask why this could be?
“For Parkinson clinicians this as a reminder of how important obtaining a complete life history can be when strategizing on a plan to reduce motor and nonmotor Parkinson symptoms. Life experiences matter and can impact symptoms,” Dr. Okun said.
The MVP study was initiated with support of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. The ongoing data collection has been supported by a donation from Sondra and Bill Fondren. Dr. Subramanian and Dr. Okun disclosed no potential conflicts of interest.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.