People who live close to a dry cleaners may face a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a new nationwide study, which found that the closer they live, the greater that risk appears to be. Umer Akbar, director of the Movement Disorder Center at Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute and a professor of neurology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, told Newsweek the study's most notable finding was its "dose-response relationship," meaning the closer someone lived to a dry cleaner, the stronger the association to the disease was. Akbar, who was not involved in the study, said researchers have long suspected that chemicals historically used in dry cleaning, including trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), raise the risk of Parkinson's disease.
But he said this particular report breaks new ground by confirming, in a large national sample, that simply living near a dry cleaner—not just working with the chemicals—may be a risk factor. He added that the exposure may also be linked to a specific form of Parkinson's that mainly affects gait and balance. The research, led by scientists at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, was published in npj Parkinson's Disease as an early, unedited manuscript ahead of final review.
The team analyzed Medicare records for nearly 19 million older adults across the U.S. People living within about 500 feet of a dry cleaners were found to have a 14 percent greater risk of developing Parkinson's disease than those who lived farther away, even after other risk factors were taken into account. That risk eased the farther someone lived from a dry cleaner.
More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are affected by Parkinson's disease according to the Parkinson's Foundation. For decades, dry cleaners relied on chlorinated solvents such as TCE and PCE to strip grease and stains from clothing without water. TCE was mostly phased out of the industry years ago, but many U.S. businesses switched to PCE instead, which can break down into TCE once it seeps underground.
Both chemicals can linger in soil and groundwater for years, long after a dry cleaner has shut its doors. The link between proximity to dry cleaners and Parkinson's disease was strongest in a handful of regions, including southeastern Illinois, the Tennessee-Kentucky border and Dallas, Texas. Researchers say factors such as past contamination, local geology or aging pipes and infrastructure could help explain why some areas show a stronger pattern than others, though they caution that more research is needed to confirm this.
"This study adds to growing evidence that environmental exposures may play an important role in Parkinson's disease," Dr. Brad Racette, chair of neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute and senior author of the study, said in a statement. "Identifying those exposures is an important step toward understanding how we might reduce the burden of this disease in the future." Akbar cautioned that the study shows an association, not proof of cause and effect, since it did not measure chemical levels in individual patients.
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