Smoking is one of the biggest causes of ill health and early death. Yet smokers seem to have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than non-smokers – by around half according to some studies.
This surprising link was first reported more than 50 years ago, when researchers in the UK and the US noticed that smokers were dying at much higher rates overall, but were less likely to die from Parkinson’s. Many studies since then have found the same pattern.
