Golf Courses & Parkinson’s Risk: New Study
- Living close to golf courses and residing in water service areas that include golf courses may elevate the risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD), new research suggests.
- Ray dorsey, a neurologist and study co-author at atria Health and Research Institute in New York, stated, "I think this study provides additional evidence of the role certain...
- While pesticide exposure has been previously linked to increased PD risk, Brittany Krzyzanowski, a geographer and assistant professor at the Barrow Neurological Institute, along with colleagues, aimed to...
Golf Course Proximity Linked to Increased Parkinson’s Disease Risk
Living close to golf courses and residing in water service areas that include golf courses may elevate the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (PD), new research suggests. The study highlights a potential link between pesticide exposure and neurological disorders.
Dr.E. Ray dorsey, a neurologist and study co-author at atria Health and Research Institute in New York, stated, “I think this study provides additional evidence of the role certain pesticides, widely used on many gold courses, are likely playing in Parkinson’s disease.”
While pesticide exposure has been previously linked to increased PD risk, Brittany Krzyzanowski, a geographer and assistant professor at the Barrow Neurological Institute, along with colleagues, aimed to further investigate the association between living near golf courses and the potential for groundwater contamination as a means of exposure.
The researchers analyzed medical records from Olmsted County, Minnesota, identifying patients with incident PD between 1991 and 2015. These cases were compared with matched controls from the Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) within a 27-county radius in Minnesota and wisconsin.
Data on golf course locations, distances from residences, and water service areas were collected for 139 courses within and beyond the REP boundaries.
The final dataset included 419 PD patients (median age 73, 61.3% men) and 5,113 controls (59.5% men). The analysis considered factors such as age, sex, race, income, and urban or rural location.
The study revealed that the median proximity to a golf course was 1.72 miles for PD patients and 1.98 miles for controls.
After adjustments, living within 1 mile of a golf course correlated with a 126% increase in the odds of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to living more than 6 miles away, according to the findings.
The study also indicated that residing in water service areas with a golf course nearly doubled the odds of developing PD compared to areas without golf courses.
Dorsey emphasized that the exposure was likely passive, not from direct handling of chemicals.
Furthermore, individuals in vulnerable groundwater regions within golf course water service areas had an 82% higher chance of developing PD compared to those in nonvulnerable areas.
The odds of developing Parkinson’s disease decreased by 9% for every mile of distance from a golf course, up to 18 miles, the linear models showed.
Dorsey added, “The results also give additional credence to the notion that Parkinson’s is preventable. If we use less pesticides or safer ones, we likely reduce the risk of Parkinson’s for all of us.”
What’s next
Further research is needed to pinpoint specific pesticides and exposure pathways that contribute to the elevated Parkinson’s disease risk near golf courses. Public health initiatives promoting safer pesticide use could perhaps mitigate these risks.