Women with Parkinson’s more likely to experience falls, report higher rates of pain than men: Study

An analysis has found that women with Parkinson’s disease may be more likely than men to experience falls and report higher rates of pain, depression, and anxiety.

Men, on the other hand, were more likely to report memory changes and showed higher rates of cognitive impairment, according to findings published in the The Lancet Regional Health Western Pacific journal.

The analysis based on data from Australian Parkinson’s Genetics Study, and led by researchers at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, found substantial sex-based differences in how Parkinson’s disease manifests and progresses, highlighting the need for more personalised approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and care.

Nearly 11,000 people with the neurodegenerative disorder responded to a questionnaire about their experience with the condition and also provided saliva samples. Parkinson’s disease is characterised by tremors, slowness of movement and muscular rigidity.

“These differences tell us that Parkinson’s is not a one-size-fits-all disease,” author Miguel Rentería, associate professor at QIMR Berghofer, said.

“The distinct patterns we see in men and women may reflect different underlying biological pathways and environmental exposures. Understanding these differences is essential if we want to move towards truly personalised approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment,” Rentería said.

The study also identified notable sleep-related differences, with men reporting higher rates of REM-sleep behaviour disorder and sleep apnoea, compared to women. REM or rapid eye movement sleep, is the stage associated with dreaming and typically begins around 90 minutes after falling asleep.

Men also reported more impulsive behaviours, particularly related to sexual behaviour, the researchers said.

The analysis further found marked differences in environmental exposures before diagnosis. Men reported significantly higher exposure to pesticides — 42% compared to 28% among women — and were far more likely to have worked in high-risk occupations such as farming, metal work, and petrochemicals.

One in four participants reported a family history of Parkinson’s, while common environmental risk factors across the cohort included pesticide exposure (36%) and traumatic head injury (16%).

“Sex-based differences are evident: females more frequently report unilateral onset (81% vs 75%), falls (45% vs 41%), and pain (70% vs 63%), whereas males report higher rates of memory changes (67% vs 61%), pesticide exposure (42% vs 28%), high-risk occupations (44% vs 16%), and impulsive control behaviour such as sexual behaviour (56% vs 19%),” the authors wrote.

The researchers noted that while remains unclear whether environmental exposure alone can cause Parkinson’s disease, the findings confirm that certain exposures are more common among people with the condition.

Author and PhD candidate Fangyuan Cao said, “What struck me most was just how varied the experience of Parkinson’s is — not only between individuals, but between men and women. The richness of this dataset allows us to move beyond averages and start to understand why the disease looks so different from one person to the next.”