A previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder negatively affects the course of Parkinson’s disease, and is associated with greater neuropsychiatric and cognitive problems, poorer treatment outcomes, and shorter survival, a study shows. Also, a greater proportion of Parkinson’s patients with preexisting bipolar disorder had a history of either condition in…

Editor’s note: This column discusses suicide. Please find resources for help at the end of the column. November 21 is International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day. Unlike when loved ones are left behind after a death caused by an illness, old age, or tragedy, those left behind after the…

People with bipolar disorder have a significantly increased risk — more than three times that of the general population — of later developing Parkinson’s disease, a study has found. Although use of medications for bipolar disorder could overestimate this risk, the researchers believe that a Parkinson’s diagnosis should…

Patients with bipolar disorder appear to have a nearly seven times higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease later in life, according to a nationwide study in Taiwan. The study, “Bipolar disorder and risk of Parkinson disease: A nationwide longitudinal study,” was published in the journal…

Researchers from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School found more than 70,000 genetic sequences that do not encode proteins — called transcribed noncoding elements (TNEs) — active in dopamine neurons that are gradually lost over the course of Parkinsons’ disease. Their findings indicate there may be…