Hereditary Parkinson’s
Because the cause of Parkinson’s disease has not yet been fully uncovered by medical science, it is also difficult to determine how hereditary the disease is.
In rare cases (less than 10%), however, Parkinson’s disease is hereditary. In those cases, the disease occurs more than once in the same family, or a fault in the DNA causes Parkinson’s.
Symptoms
You usually can’t tell from the symptoms whether a patient has a hereditary or non-hereditary form of Parkinson’s. However, in hereditary cases, the disease may begin at an earlier age. If no other family members have been diagnosed, it’s difficult to determine whether the disease is hereditary.
These days, genetic testing is available for hereditary forms of Parkinson’s. However, interpreting the results is not straightforward, and not all hereditary forms of the disease have been identified. So even if the test shows a normal DNA result, the Parkinson’s could still be hereditary.
Treatments
Because the treatment for patients with a hereditary form of Parkinson’s is the same as for those with the non-hereditary form, genetic testing is rarely carried out. DNA testing may be initiated if it helps the neurologist determine a treatment strategy, or if Parkinson’s occurs in multiple family members.
