I am 67 years old and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease seven years ago. I think a lot about the cause of the disease. I have worked in emergency care for many years, and there are five of us at the same clinic who have been diagnosed. Coincidence? The environment?

The cause of Parkinson’s is unknown in the vast majority of cases. Working in emergency care is not usually regarded as a risk factor, but one really does wonder what the five of you have in common, even though it could just as easily be a coincidence. Growing up in a rural environment and having worked with agricultural pesticides or solvents may pose a slightly increased risk. The best-known case of work-related Parkinson’s disease in Sweden involved people who had worked with the anti-mould agent diphenyl to impregnate orange-coloured paper. /Dag Nyholm