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Neurological Disorders

Can Parkinson’s Disease Cause Seizures?

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Klara Hatinova

Klara Hatinova

Klara is a postgraduate researcher in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford.

Can Parkinson’s Disease Cause Seizures?

Having a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) does not directly cause seizures [1]. Nonetheless, there is an association between seizure incidence, epilepsy diagnosis and Parkinson's disease. Thus, the risk factor for having a seizure in PD patients is higher than in healthy individuals, with the risk increasing with every comorbidity [2].

The study from Gruntz et al. from 2018 demonstrates this evidence of this increased seizure risk. Patients with PD had a 1.68x higher risk of experiencing seizures than healthy control participants [2].

There is increasing awareness of seizure risk in neurodegenerative conditions, as identifying seizure risk early on can improve prognosis [3].

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Klara Hatinova

Klara Hatinova

Klara is a postgraduate researcher in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford. She has worked across a spectrum of hot topics in neuroscience, including her current project measuring reinforcement learning strategies in Parkinson’s disease. Previously, she studied the efficacy of psilocybin as a therapy for critical mental health conditions and examined molecular circadian rhythms of migraine disorders. She completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow and participated in a year abroad at the University of California, where she worked on a clinical trial for spinal cord injury.