Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s natives are at greater risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease (PD), according to KPJ Sabah Consultant Neurologist, Dr. Chia Yuen Kang (pic).
He said a recent study conducted with University Malaya found young-onset Parkinson’s in Sabah were common in the Kadazan Dusun ethnic group.
“I found it very peculiar after working here for so many years. I noticed it runs in the family and more patients well below their 60s were being diagnosed with PD.
“We ran some tests and found that there was prevalence of certain genes that made the ethnic group vulnerable for PD,” he said, adding further studies are being conducted to pinpoint the genes and their mutational factors.
However, Chia said the trend of Parkinson’s in Sabah is increasing regardless of race.
“One per cent of the Malaysian population above 60 years old have PD and that’s a huge number.
“Awareness on the disease is increasing but it’s still weak in Sabah, especially in the villages. They don’t know much about PD and would blame the debilitation on ageing.
“The public hospitals are doing their best to promote awareness on the disease but it’s not as good compared to Peninsular,” Chia said.
He said that there is no cure or methods on preventing PD but with proper nutrition, exercise, and cutting cigarettes and alcohol might reduce the chances developing it.
“You will never understand what it’s like to have PD until you get it,” said President of Parkinson Association of West Coast Sabah, James Lee.
James is living with dyskinesia (erratic and uncontrollable body movements) which is a common sign of PD but unnecessarily its main symptom.
As a result, according to Dr. Chia, a patient with dyskinesia will become malnourished with the extra calories burnt on top of another common symptom that is the loss of appetite.
“New studies have indicated that PD arises from the gut slowly making its way into the brain stem. Other than genetics, environmental factors like pollutants and food are seen as culprits.
“The second most common cause is drug induced, where the body reacts to certain medications that trigger the condition,” he said.
Men are more likely to develop PD than women while most common symptoms are a stiff back and masked face (expressionless), tremors, shorter steps and rapid eye movements during sleep which may cause an individual to act out his dreams.
Dr. Chia and James were met at a talk held at KPJ Specialist Hospital here, last Saturday, where one electrical medical bed and 60 t-shirts were donated to the association.
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