PEAK3

(Conducted at the Division of Research in conjunction with Stanford University and The Parkinsons Institute; Funded by NINDS)

The PEAK3 study is currently underway. This study uses the same case-control design that was used in the PEAK study.

PEAK3 aims to investigate the hypotheses that:1) a chemical constituent of cigarette smoke or nicotine is causally related the risk of developing PD, 2) the apparent effect of smoking is due to genetic variations that are associated with cigarette smoking and 3) the protective effect of smoking is due to another factor that influences the likelihood of taking up smoking.

To address the study objectives, we are working to identify new subjects with early age at diagnosis (< age 60), and will combine this new sample with subjects from the previous study, resulting in approximately 405 early-age at diagnosis cases and 431 cases diagnosed later in life (age > 60). Over a three-year period from 2000-2003, the medical records of all KPMCP enrollees who are ages 20-60 when first diagnosed with PD will be evaluated according to defined clinical diagnostic criteria. Information on exposures of interest will be collected by in-person and telephone structured interviews. Blood samples will be drawn for DNA extraction and genotyping assays for the gene polymorphisms of interest.

This study is still collecting data and enrolling participants.