Living near a dry cleaner could be raising your risk of Parkinson’s disease, a study suggests.
Parkinson’s is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder where parts of the brain become damaged over time, causing progressively worsening tremors and movement problems that eventually rob patients of their independence.
Suffered by one million Americans, the disease is thought to be on the rise in the US, which experts have blamed on pollution, pesticides and smoking.
Now, researchers in Arizona have added new evidence to another theory, suggesting that chemicals from dry cleaners, which can remain in the ground for decades after stores close, may also be driving an uptick in diagnoses with the disease.
In a study, the team analyzed the medical records of 18 million Americans who lived nationwide, including 180,000 who were diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
They found that those who lived within 500 feet of a dry cleaners had a 14 percent higher risk of Parkinson’s compared to those who lived four or five miles away.
Nationwide, they found the strongest link between dry cleaners and Parkinson’s in the New York City metropolitan area, southern California, Michigan and parts of the South.
The experts believe the association was because of the chemicals used by dry cleaners, which can be absorbed by the body and cause damage to the brain that may trigger the condition.
Researchers say that living near a dry cleaners may raise your risk of Parkinson’s disease
Dry cleaners use powerful chemicals to strip stains out of clothing. Since the 1950s, many have stopped using tetrachloroethylene (TCE) because of its toxicity and switched to the lighter chemical perchloroethylene (PCE), although this can degrade to TCE in the environment.
Researchers warn that chemicals used by dry cleaners can leach into the soil around stores and then be released in ‘vapor plumes’ that are breathed in by those who live nearby.
In the body, scientists say the chemicals may pass to the brain and kill dopamine-releasing neurons, which help to control movement. The loss of these neurons triggers Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers cautioned that their study, published this week in npj Parkinson’s disease, does not prove that dry cleaning chemicals cause Parkinson’s.
But they said it shows there may be an association which requires further research.
In the study, the scientists said: ‘Our findings suggest that chemicals used in dry cleaning may contaminate nearby neighborhoods and contribute to Parkinson’s disease risk.’
The Parkinson’s Foundation estimates 1.2 million Americans will have the disease by 2030 and that 90,000 are currently diagnosed with the condition every year.
That is a 50 percent increase from the previous estimate of 60,000 new cases annually a decade ago.
Carly Simon announced that she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease last month. There is no suggestion that her condition is linked to dry cleaning
There are roughly 35,000 deaths every year from the condition, often caused by trouble swallowing and pneumonia.
Only about 15 percent of Parkinson’s cases are diagnosed in people with a family history of the disease.
In the new study, researchers analyzed the medical records of Medicare patients.
They extracted data on patients who were aged 67 years old and above and, over five years up to 2018, checked each for a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Overall, the study included 18 million people and 180,000 Parkinson’s disease cases.
Researchers also extracted the location of each patient and then compared this to the location of nearly 33,000 dry cleaning establishments that were operating in 2013.
In the analysis, they compared both locations to find out whether there was an association.
After adjusting for other factors, they also found that those who lived within 0.1 miles, about 2,000 steps, of a dry cleaner had a 23 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease with gait instability, one of the two most common subtypes of the disease where someone’s dominant problems are with walking or balance, compared to those who lived four or five miles away.
Those who lived within 0.1 miles of the dry cleaners also had a 25 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease alongside dementia or cognitive decline and a 19 percent higher risk of diagnosis with Parkinson’s following a fall.
There was no significant association found between dry cleaners and tremor-defined Parkinson’s, the other most common form where someone’s dominant problems are with tremors.
Other areas that showed a stronger association between living near a dry cleaners and Parkinson’s disease were Dallas-Fort Worth and Detroit metropolitan areas, southern Illinois, the Tennessee-Kentucky border, central Pennsylvania and north-central Indiana.
There were several limitations to the study. These included that the accuracy of location data could not be verified and that it assumed that patients had always lived near a dry cleaners.
It noted that some dry cleaning stores may only act as drop-off and pick-up locations, with the actual dry cleaning being carried out elsewhere in a separate facility.
Other factors about neighborhoods that may raise the risk of a diagnosis, such as pollution, could not be discounted.
Chemicals from dry cleaners can lurk in the soil around a location for decades after the shop closes.
In some cases, people may also take home chemicals from the dry cleaning process on clothes that have been treated at stores.
In previous cases, other scientists have advised people that one way to reduce their risk of Parkinson’s is to reduce their risk of exposure to toxic chemicals.
This can be done by washing all fresh produce, to remove pesticides, finding a dry cleaner that does not use PCE and TCE and avoiding golf courses shortly after they have been treated with pesticides.
