Scientists have discovered that women who have more years of fertility have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
A study by researchers at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine involved 73,973 women. According to the Parkinson's Disease Society, men are slightly more likely to develop the progressive neurological condition. The team found that women who were fertile for more than 39 years had a 25 per cent lower risk of needing Parkinson's disease care than those who were fertile for less than 33 years. Women who had given birth to four or more children were found to be around a fifth more likely to develop Parkinson's than those who had three or fewer pregnancies.
Lead author Dr Rachel Saunders-Pullman, assistant professor of neurology at Einstein, commented: "These findings, involving nearly 74,000 women, suggest that longer exposure to the body's own, or endogenous, hormones, including oestrogen, may help protect the brain cells that are affected by Parkinson's disease."