Jews Are More Likely to Get Parkinson's

In a latest study -- published in New England Journal of Medicine -- researchers link ethnic groups to increased risks of the disease of Parkinson's.

Researchers found that Eastern European Jews and North Africans of Arab descent were far more likely to have a gene mutation linked to the neurological disease than whites and other ethnic or racial groups.

The studies were done by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and INSERM, the French equivalent of the National Institutes of Health.

If larger studies confirm the findings, it could lead to the offering of genetic testing to high-risk groups, as is done now for breast cancer gene mutations among Eastern European Jewish women.