InstalabPhysician-backed insights to optimize your health and reduce long-term risks.
A new study that followed over 5,500 people between 1991 and 2015 found that living within one mile of a golf course was linked to more than double the odds of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those living more than six miles away. The farther people lived from a golf course, the lower their odds of Parkinson’s.
Parkinson's disease shortens life expectancy on average, but the size of that effect varies dramatically based on a single factor most people overlook: age at diagnosis. Someone diagnosed between 25 and 39 loses roughly 11 years of expected lifespan. Someone diagnosed at 65 or older loses closer to 4. That's nearly a threefold difference in impact from the same disease. The research consistently puts Parkinson's mortality at about 1.5 to 2 times higher than the general population. But that ratio is a wide average. Where you actually land on that spectrum depends on a handful of identifiable factors, and understanding them makes the numbers far less abstract.