McGill launches a large international study on early detection of Parkinson's disease

CTV National News: Dancing with Parkinson's A Toronto dance class aims to help improve motor and cognitive functions for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Vanessa Lee reports.

A large international study involving McGill University is seeking participants with or at high risk for Parkinson's disease to further the early detection and treatment of this neurodegenerative disorder.

The Ottawa Hospital and Toronto's Western Hospital are the only other Canadian centres participating in the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study, which is funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. The researchers hope to recruit around 4,000 subjects worldwide.

The aim of the PPMI is to track the health of patients over time, sometimes starting several years before the onset of symptoms.

This could one day lead to the development of therapies that will slow the progression of the disease or even prevent it from occurring at all, especially as it now seems possible to diagnose Parkinson's early on 10 or 15 years before the first symptoms appear.

"We have good treatments for Parkinson's, to help with the symptoms, but the disease still progresses," said the head of the PPMI project at the Montreal Neurological Hospital Institute (The Neuro), Dr. Ron Postuma. "If the disease started 10 years ago, before a first encounter with the doctor, that's 10 years that have been lost in which we could have tried to intervene to stop its progression, and it may be a little late to get a good improvement."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 24, 2023.