Having your appendix removed could lower the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease by 20 percent, says a team of researchers in a new study.
Using medical data from a large-scale Swedish database, a team led by scientists from the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were able to tease out a connection between a condition that affects less than one percent of the population and an organ long assumed by researchers to be of little use. The find also sheds new light a complex disease that’s puzzled researchers for decades and could give doctors insights into how to help prevent the disease in people at higher risk.
