PREDICT-PD, a groundbreaking research project to identify people at higher risk of Parkinson’s disease before symptoms appear, has surpassed its goal to recruit 10,000 unaffected participants. PI for the project at Queen Mary University of London, Professor Alastair Noyce, said: ‘We are another step closer to understanding who in the general population might be more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s and expedite the discovery of improved treatments and, ultimately, a cure for this debilitating condition’. It is estimated that Parkinson’s will affect 14 million people worldwide by 2040.
Since March 2020 the project team based in the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at QMUL has worked with health and technology company UMED to improve enrolment and diversity, resulting in a 275% increase in monthly enrolment (an additional 7000 participants). Professor Noyce said: ‘Recruitment has progressed at a pace we never expected. The success of the PREDICT-PD study demonstrates the impact of leveraging technology and the use of health record data to accelerate research’.
Targeting eligible participants who identified as being from an ethnic minority using images of ethnically diverse patients in study communications resulted in a significant increase in the proportion of participants coming from a minority background, improving diversity from 3% to 10% of the study cohort. People from minority backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in Parkinson's research, with the large majority of UK trial participants being affluent, well-educated and white. This is also reflected in research across Europe and North America, which means that understanding the genetic basis, environmental risk factors, clinical manifestations and response to treatment is heavily biased.
The PREDICT-PD study is funded by Parkinson’s UK, and is being conducted jointly by QMUL and University College London.