Brain bank data suggests up to 20% of Parkinson's disorders are misdiagnosed

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-06-09 01:00

Australia; International; NSW

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An analysis of brains donated to brain banks in the UK, US, and Australia has found that between 10 and 20% of neurodegenerative movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, are misdiagnosed. The researchers looked at the brain pathology and also at people's genetic data, which allowed them to identify five genes that had previously been implicated in neurodegenerative movement disorders. The researchers say the findings suggest incorporating genetics and pathology data may improve diagnosis.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Neurology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), The University of New South Wales, The University of Sydney, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UK

Funder: Thisworkwas funded by the MedicalResearch Council, GlobalParkinson’s Genetic Program (GP2)/Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s, andawardMR/T018569/1 from the UKRI/MRC.GP2is funded by the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative and implemented by The Michael J. FoxFoundationforParkinson’sResearch.Thisresearch was also funded in part by Aligning Science Across Parkinson’sASAP-000478through the Michael J.Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. This paper presents independent research supported by the NIHR,Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). This researchwas also supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH; program #: ZIANS003154).

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