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Medicine Science

Scientists Find Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix (gizmodo.com) 135

Posted by BeauHD from the connecting-the-dots dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Scientists have found further evidence that the gut, or more specifically the appendix, might play a role in the development of Parkinson's disease. The international team of scientists reviewed two datasets, including a large registry from Sweden, and found that removal of the appendix was associated with a decreased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. They also found that the human appendix contains clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein in a form associated with the disease. There's more work to be done, and the authors are not advocating that people preemptively remove their appendixes, but they hope that the research could provide a pathway towards treatment.

The study found that of the 1,144,745 Swedes who did not have appendectomies, 1,608 had Parkinson's, but of the 551,003 who had, only 644 had Parkinson's. This is amounts to a 16.9% decrease in the odds of acquiring the disease -- but in absolutes, that's the difference between an 0.14 percent chance of acquiring the disease for those who hadn't gotten their appendix removed versus an 0.11 percent chance for those who had. The effect was also stronger in those living in rural areas, according to the study published today in Science Translational Medicine. The researchers also found that for those who had appendectomies at least 30 years before developing Parkinson's, the procedure was associated with a 3.6-year delay in disease onset. The appendix samples contained alpha-synuclein proteins and shortened and mis-folded alpha-synucleins like the ones found in people with Parkinson's disease. Professor Viviane Labrie from the Cancer of Neurodegenerative Science at the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan suggests that the alpha-synucleins "can travel up the nerve that connects the G.I. tract to the brain." She added: "If it were to enter the brain, it can seed and spread from there and have neurotoxic effects that could eventually lead to Parkinson's disease."
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Scientists Find Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix More

Scientists Find Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix

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  • Nothin from nothing leaves (Score:3)

    by OYAHHH ( 322809 ) on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @11:49PM (#57572283)

    Nothing!

    The numbers are so miniscule it is not even worth discussing. It's equivalent to my buying two lottery tickets instead of one.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      The numbers are very interesting from a scientific point of view and may well eventually lead to better treatments. They are irrelevant only for direct risk management.

      • The numbers are very interesting from a scientific point of view

        Really? One of the first rules of scientific data analysis is that correlation does not imply causation. So far there is literally nothing to see here scientifically. It only becomes interesting if they actually manage to find that the appendix has a role in causing Parkinsons. Given the tiny effect on the actual rate of the disease it is unlikely to have any sort of major role since you are only ~16% less likely to get it without your appendix. Indeed the very weak correlation suggests that either there a

    • A 16% difference?? STFU.

  • So do I need to get my appendix removed?

    • So do I need to get my appendix removed?

      Let's take a look at the summary.

      "There's more work to be done, and the authors are not advocating that people preemptively remove their appendixes"

      To me that means "yes".

    • Probably safest to just remove everything that doesn't seem super important! Appendix, coccyx, bunch of redundant lymph nodes... don't really need gonads, the dog seems happy enough without 'em. Clean house!

  • Why so much butchering? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    554k have had appendix removed in this study which included 1/5th the population of Sweden. That's a lot. Removing an organ should always be a last resort, and should be much more rare. All this proves is that modern medicine is much more "wandering around in the dark" than they would have you believe.

    Keep your appendix, keep your tonsils, and keep your foreskin...unless removing it is *the only way* to prevent imminent death.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      "Modern medicine" has only existed since the late 80s when the idea that a randomized clinical trial, including blinding and (gasp) involving statisticians, was a good idea. Modern medicine has a big backlog of medieval superstition to get around to.

      There was a recent study that suggested even in the case of acute appendicitis, antibiotics were just as effective as removal.

  • Correlation is not causation... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Arzaboa ( 2804779 ) on Thursday November 01, 2018 @01:02AM (#57572437)

    The one thing that we can deduce from this study is that 100% of the people that had appendectomies don't have an appendix anymore.

    --
    Together we can change the world, just one random act of kindness at a time. -- Ron Hall

    • Re:Correlation is not causation... (Score:5, Funny)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Thursday November 01, 2018 @02:15AM (#57572545)

      I don't think so. That would need individual verification. Surgeries get botched.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mark-t ( 151149 )
        That would, I assume, likely fall into the statistical noise category, being less than 1% and therefore not actually change the accuracy of the statement when rounded to the nearest whole percentage point.

    • >Correlation is not causation...

      +1

      I am so tired of these "studies" being posted and people jumping to causation conclusions. Whatever causes Parkinson's MIGHT also be something that increases the chances of appendicitis. That doesn't mean that removal of the appendix affects the chances of getting Parkinson's.

      Such studies are very interesting, but prove nothing. They just help point the need for further research.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        This is true. Oddly however, science is not done in a vacuum. There's also evidence that the protein involved in Parkinson's can crawl along nerves, including from the gut to the brain. Several lines of evidence suggest a possible causal relationship. Of course, none of it is conclusive, and gut involvement in Parkinson's is still an emerging idea. As the *summary* says, don't get your appendix removed yet.

        "People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals." If you're tired of hearing people jump to conclusions p

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by epine ( 68316 )

          "People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals." If you're tired of hearing people jump to conclusions perhaps you should avoid the Internet?

          All through the work day, we're forced to occupy the cognitive zone where we're least dumb, panicky, and dangerous (if not in the first job, in the second, or third, or fourth).

          Then you come home, and you're tired, because that part of the brain was not meant to operate for eight solid hours. It was just meant to be wide enough awake to avoid lions while making a two hou

    • It is grounds for further investigation.

      Furthermore the researchers do not claim it is.

      Strawman cliches are not +1 insightful.

  • Correlation does not imply causation (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I could be that people who have some genetic profile are more likely to get Parkinsson and problem with their appendix. Or it could be that people who eat a certain food or exercise in a certain way are more (or less) likely to get Parkinsson and problem with their appendix.

  • Interesting! So, people who are predisposed to eventually developing Parkinson's disease, are at an increased risk of having that manifest as an inflamed appendix requiring operation. Not only that, but this seems to be an early warning sign before the main disease (Parkinson's) manifests as well.

    Brought to you by the "In medicine the exact reverse causal hypothesis always also sounds entirely reasonable too" department.

    Incidentally, every time somebody discovers yet another brain-gut-axis link, I feel

  • This seems like a very low correlation for the cause to be the appendix. More than likely the appendix is merely capturing and concentrating these proteins, perhaps well before the symptoms of Parkinsons have manifested. That hardly means the appendix is the source of the proteins.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      So what you are saying is, there may be a Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix .

      • So what you are saying is, there may be a Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix

        Yeah, just like the bladder is the source of diabetes because uncontrolled diabetes manifests with glucose in the urine.

  • But where to put the information? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sabbede ( 2678435 ) on Thursday November 01, 2018 @08:13AM (#57573241)
    If we start removing appendices, there won't be any place in the medical books to list the connection to Parkinson's!

  • It's a complex picture, could .... (Score:3)

    by Martin S. ( 98249 ) on Thursday November 01, 2018 @08:27AM (#57573297) Journal

    Those prone to appendicitis be less susceptible to Parkinsons for the same reason they suffer appendicitis in the first place. There are know genetic factors in the predisposition to both diseases.

    Could there be some other environmental cause? Pesticides and herbicides exposure is a known risk factor in Parkinsons.

    Appendectomy is know to slow peoples recovery after bouts of food poisoning, because their gut flora recovers more slowly. The Appendix is known to be a reservoir of these.

    I like to see how this compared with non-surgical intervention for appendicitis, which was reported recently as as gaining favour for that latter reason.

  • In fact, at almost 60, I'm still 100% factory equipment! Appendix, wisdom teeth, no body parts have been removed. My mom said the reason I was the only one in the family that didn't have to have their wisdom teeth removed was because I had a big mouth. LOL, well, she was right in a way. ;)
  • A related study also found that people with freckles live longer and happier lives. Go science! Go science! Go science! Whoop! Whoop!

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